Home Health Nurses' Perceptions of Caring for Persons With Severe and Persistent Mental Illnesses.

Background: Severe and persistent mental illnesses (SPMIs) affect a significant portion of the adult population in the United States. Despite their enhanced medical disease burden, individuals with SPMIs often lack access to appropriate medical care. Home health services offer cost-effective options for caring for this population in the comfort of their homes.

Palliative Care in Severe and Persistent Mental Illness: A Systematic Review.

Severe and persistent mental illnesses refer to a group of psychiatric disorders causing severe dysfunction in patients and include diagnoses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Patients with severe and persistent mental illnesses have a complex symptomatology and face complicated medical disparities creating a difficult care process and reduced quality of life. Palliative care, a holistic approach to care that aims to reduce symptoms and stress of illness in persons living with chronic diagnoses, is appropriate within this population to address the complexity of care needs but is currently underutilized.

Palliative Care: Oncology Nurses' Confidence in Provision to Patients With Cancer.

Background: Oncology nurses are key providers of care to patients with cancer in all healthcare settings. However, little is known about oncology nurses' perceived confidence in providing all of the domains of palliative care.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to examine oncology nurses' perceived confidence in providing palliative care to patients with cancer and to identify the association between nurses' demographic and professional characteristics and their perceived confidence.

A Systematic Review on Barriers to Palliative Care in Oncology.

The number of people with cancer and the need for palliative care among this population is increasing in the United States. Despite this growing need, several barriers exist to the utilization of palliative care in oncology. The purpose of this study was to synthesize the evidence on the barriers to palliative care utilization in an oncology population.

A longitudinal comparison of health-related quality of life in rural and urban recipients of left ventricular assist devices.

Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are a common treatment for advanced heart failure (HF) to improve ventricular function, symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Many LVAD recipients travel long distances from rural areas for LVAD implantation and follow-up care. Individuals with HF in rural settings who have not undergone LVAD implantation have reported poor HRQOL.

Adverse-Event Free Survival, Hospitalizations, and Mortality in Left Ventricular Assist Device Recipients: A Rural-Urban Cohort Comparison.

Background: The number of individuals with advanced heart failure (HF) receiving left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) is growing. Postimplantation LVAD recipients return home to both rural and urban locations. The impact of rural or urban living on postimplantation outcomes has not been adequately explored.

Family caregiver-reported outcomes regarding decision-making for left ventricular assist device implantation.

Background: Family caregivers (FCGs) often participate in the decision for their loved one to receive a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Little is known about the contribution of FCGs to this complex decision.

Objectives: To investigate family caregiver-reported outcomes related to decision-making for LVAD implantation and their experiences post-implantation.

Intergenerational Caregivers of Parents With End-Stage Heart Failure.

The purpose of this study was to longitudinally explore the experiences of young adult, adult, and older adult intergenerational caregivers caring for a parent with end-stage heart failure (HF). This study was a secondary analysis of qualitative data collected during a longitudinal study that sought to determine the palliative care needs of individuals with end-stage HF and their family caregivers. Longitudinal interviews from 23 young adult, adult, and older adult children who were caring for a parent with end-stage HF were selected for thematic analysis.

Support for Young Black Urban Women After Perinatal Loss.

Purpose: To describe the bereavement support needs of black urban women in late adolescence after perinatal loss.

Study Design And Methods: Eight black women aged 18 to 21 years who had experienced recent perinatal loss were interviewed in person or by telephone at three points in the 12 weeks that followed their loss to describe their perinatal bereavement experience and support needs. Data from the interviews were analyzed using constant comparative analysis.

Naive Expectations to Resignation: A Comparison of Life Descriptions of Newly Diagnosed Versus Chronic Persons Living With Stage D HF.

Purpose: This study examined life descriptions of persons with stage D heart failure (HF) comparing those newly diagnosed to those with chronic HF.

Methods: A secondary analysis of interviews from 75 participants followed in a longitudinal study of persons with stage D HF was thematically analyzed. There were 24 participants who were recently diagnosed with stage D HF (less than 2 years) and 51 participants with HF longer than 2 years.

Resistiveness to Care as Experienced by Family Caregivers Providing Care for Someone With Dementia.

Purpose: This research explored family caregivers' lived experiences of resistiveness to care when they provided care for people with dementia. The goal was to identify a general meaning of family caregivers' lived experiences to target potential areas for future nursing interventions to help family caregivers manage their caregiving role and provide a base for future research surrounding resistiveness to care.

Design: Descriptive phenomenology was used to provide descriptions of eight family caregivers who provided care for someone with dementia and experienced resistiveness to care.

Caregivers' perceptions of illness severity and end of life service utilization in advanced heart failure.

Objectives: To assess perceptions of illness severity and terminality in caregivers of advanced heart failure (HF) patients and how these perceptions influence utilization of palliative care and end-of life services.

Background: HF is a terminal disease; yet patients and caregivers do not understand the severity of HF or acknowledge disease terminality.

Methods: This study was conducted using a qualitative design with in-depth interviews and content analysis.

Patients' decision making process and expectations of a left ventricular assist device pre and post implantation.

Objectives: To examine patients' pre-implantation decision-making and pre and post-implantation expectations of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs).

Background: LVADs have been shown to improve both quantity and quality of life of patients living with Stage D heart failure (HF). However, they also pose significant risks.

Palliative Care in Heart Failure.

The number of patients with heart failure is growing; the associated morbidity and mortality remains dismal. Advance care planning, end-of-life conversations, and palliative care referrals are appropriate, but do not occur regularly. Palliative care focuses on patients and families from diagnosis, to hospice, death, and bereavement.

Patient and Caregiver Incongruence in Advanced Heart Failure.

The important role of caregivers in heart failure (HF) management is well documented, but few studies have explored HF patient-caregiver dyads when dyadic incongruence is evident. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of incongruence between HF patient-caregiver dyads, areas of incongruence, and the impact on individuals in the dyadic relationship. Data were collected as part of a longitudinal qualitative study examining the palliative care needs of HF dyads.

The work of spousal caregiving of older adults with end-stage heart failure.

Heart failure requires complex home management, which is typically performed by a spouse. Yet little is known about the actual "work" of caregiving in individuals with heart failure. The purpose of this study was to describe the types of work manifested in long-term spousal caregiving for older adults across the progression of heart failure.

Caring for a spouse with end-stage heart failure through implantation of a left ventricular assist device as destination therapy.

Objectives: This qualitative study describes the experiences of spousal caregivers of a patient with end-stage heart failure (HF) from pre-LVAD to post-LVAD-DT implantation.

Background: LVAD-DTs are implanted as permanent devices for end-stage HF patients with the goal of improving the length and quality of life. LVADs create new demands for both patients and caregivers.

Perinatal bereavement: a principle-based concept analysis.

Aim: To report an analysis of the concept of perinatal bereavement.

Background: The concept of perinatal bereavement emerged in the scientific literature during the 1970s. Perinatal bereavement is a practice-based concept, although it is not well-defined in the scientific literature and is often intermingled with the concepts of mourning and grief.

State of the science of maternal-infant bonding: a principle-based concept analysis.

Objective: to provide a principle-based analysis of the concept of maternal-infant bonding.

Design: principle-based method of concept analysis for which the data set included 44 articles published in the last decade from Pubmed, CINAHL, and PyschINFO/PsychARTICLES.

Setting: literature inclusion criteria were English language, articles published in the last decade, peer-reviewed journal articles and commentary on published work, and human populations.

Dyadic heart failure care types: qualitative evidence for a novel typology.

Background: Compared with other chronic illness populations, relatively little is known about heart failure (HF) patient and caregiver spousal/partner dyads and what effect dyadic interactions have on self-care.

Objective: The aim of this study was to present a new typology of patient and caregiver dyadic interdependence in HF care, presenting exemplar cases of each type: patient oriented, caregiver oriented, collaboratively oriented, complementarily oriented.

Methods: Stake's instrumental case study methodology was used.

Assessing the response of patients and spousal/partner caregivers to a new instrument measuring dyadic heart failure care types.

Background: Nurse researchers are exploring new ways of understanding heart failure (HF), spousal/partner dyad's self care.

Aims: To assess the response to a new instrument developed to measure dyadic HF care type in HF patients and spousal/partner caregivers and explore relationships between type and other variables.

Methods: Dyads answered a written criterion referenced question related to dyadic HF care type.