Application of action research in the field of healthcare: a scoping review protocol.

Traditional research approaches are increasingly challenged in healthcare contexts as they produce abstract thinking rather than practical application. In this regard, action research is a growing area of popularity and interest, essentially because of its dual focus on theory and action. However, there is a need for action researchers not only to justify their research approach but also to demonstrate the quality of their empirical studies.

: Parents' needs when breaking news and communicating to children with cancer and their siblings.

Purpose: This paper explores parents' experiences of breaking news and communicating to the child with cancer and their siblings, and identifies the supports parents request to help them in this role. This paper represents one component of a wider action research study which employed mixed methods to explore supports needed by parents of children with a cancer diagnosis in the Republic of Ireland.

Research Design: This paper reports on the survey phase of the study, which involved the distribution of a postal survey to 550 families of children in cancer treatment and remission.

Acute hospital staff's attitudes towards dementia and perceived dementia knowledge: a cross-sectional survey in Ireland.

Background: Little is known about staff's attitudes in Irish acute hospital settings towards people living with dementia and their perceived dementia knowledge. The aim of this study was to understand the general level of dementia knowledge and attitudes towards dementia in different types of hospital staff, as well as to explore the potential influence of previous dementia training and experience (having a family member with dementia) and the potential moderating effects of personal characteristics. This data was required to plan and deliver general and targeted educational interventions to raise awareness of dementia throughout the acute services.

A qualitative systematic review of the needs of bereaved parents as they journey through the death of their child to cancer.

Problem Identification: This systematic review will examine the social support needs of bereaved parents in the specific context of pediatric cancer by synthesizing the qualitative evidence. Social support encompasses emotional, practical, informational, and meaning-making support needs.

Literature Search: The Joanna Briggs Institute procedures for conducting qualitative systematic reviews guided every stage of this review.

Healthcare providers' views and experiences of non-specialist palliative care in hospitals: A qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis.

Background: Healthcare providers working in hospitals are frequently exposed to patients with palliative care needs. For most patients, these reflect non-specialist rather than specialist palliative care needs. Embedding palliative care principles early in patients' disease trajectories within acute care delivery in hospitals, however, is a challenge.

Dying in acute hospitals: voices of bereaved relatives.

Background: Internationally there is an increasing concern about the quality of end-of-life care (EoLC) provided in acute hospitals. More people are cared for at end of life and die in acute hospitals than in any other healthcare setting. This paper reports the views of bereaved relatives on the experience of care they and the person that died received during their last admission in two university adult acute tertiary hospitals.

Assessing the impact of dementia inclusive environmental adjustment in the emergency department.

Objectives: Acute hospitals, in particular the emergency department, can be disorienting for people living with dementia. As part of a larger project to improve care for people living with dementia, dementia-inclusive modifications were made to two emergency department bays in a large acute care hospital in Ireland. Modifications to spatial configuration included noise reduction, altered lighting and the addition of an orientation aid and fixed seating for relatives.

Non-specialist palliative care: A principle-based concept analysis.

Background: Building palliative care capacity among all healthcare practitioners caring for patients with chronic illnesses, who do not work in specialist palliative care services (non-specialist palliative care), is fundamental in providing more responsive and sustainable palliative care. Varying terminology such as 'generalist', 'basic' and 'a palliative approach' are used to describe this care but do not necessarily mean the same thing. Internationally, there are also variations between levels of palliative care which means that non-specialist palliative care may be applied inconsistently in practice because of this.

Meeting the Needs of People Who Identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer in Palliative Care Settings.

The end-of-life needs of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) are in many ways identical to those of non-LGBTQ people; however, for a variety of reasons, they are at risk of receiving suboptimal care, irrespective of whether they are being cared for at home or in a nursing home, hospital, or hospice. Although research on the needs of LGBTQ people at the end of life is sparse, drawing on what is available this article explores some of their unique concerns that practitioners should consider during their interactions.

Voices that matter: end-of-life care in two acute hospitals from the perspective of bereaved relatives.

Background: End-of-life care (EoLC) is an experience that touches the lives of everyone. Dying in an acute hospital is a common occurrence in developed countries across the world. Previous studies have shown that there is wide variation in EoLC and at times is experienced as being of poor quality.

Decision-making among patients and their family in ALS care: a review.

Objectives: Practice guidelines in ALS care emphasise the role of the patient and their family in the decision-making process. We aimed to examine the ALS patient/family relationship in the decision-making process and to ascertain how patients and their family can shape one another's decisions pertaining to care.

Methods: We conducted a review of peer-reviewed empirical research, published in full and in English between January 2007 and January 2017, relating to care decision-making among ALS patients and their family.

Understanding the challenges of palliative care in everyday clinical practice: an example from a COPD action research project.

Palliative care seeks to improve the quality of life for patients suffering from the impact of life-limiting illnesses. Palliative care encompasses but is more than end-of-life care, which is defined as care during the final hours/days/weeks of life. Although palliative care policies increasingly require all healthcare professionals to have at least basic or non-specialist skills in palliative care, international evidence suggests there are difficulties in realising such policies.

Between worlds: the experiences and needs of former family carers.

While the financial, physical and psycho-social burden for caregivers is recorded, less is known about the post-caring experience. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the experiences and needs of Irish former family carers in the post-caring/care transitions period. Former family carers were defined as family members who provided physical and/or social care to a family member with an illness or disability in the home for at least 6 months prior to nursing home/hospice placement or death.

Policy analysis: palliative care in Ireland.

Palliative care for patients with advanced illness is a subject of growing importance in health services, policy and research. In 2001 Ireland became one of the first nations to publish a dedicated national palliative care policy. This paper uses the 'policy analysis triangle' as a framework to examine what the policy entailed, where the key ideas originated, why the policy process was activated, who were the key actors, and what were the main consequences.

Informal care-giving in advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: lay knowledge and experience.

Aim: The aim of this research was to explore the experiences of informal caregivers providing care in the home to a family member with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Advances in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment, increasing emphasis on early discharge and home-based care programmes enable those with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to remain at home. However, little is known about the consequences of these initiatives for informal caregivers.