Prolonged grief reactions and help-seeking in bereaved adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many care systems limiting bereaved peoples' ability to access social, community, and professional support. This study investigated help-seeking of people living with probable prolonged grief disorder (PGD) to identify challenges and facilitators of care, with the aim of informing bereavement practice and policy recommendations.

Methods: Participants (N = 786; 96.

Support needs of Australians bereaved during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey study.

Background: COVID-19 disrupted access to bereavement support. The objective of this study was to identify the bereavement supports used by Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic, perceived helpfulness of supports used, prevalence and areas of unmet support need, and characteristics of those with unmet support needs.

Methods: A convenience sample of bereaved adults completed an online questionnaire (April 2021-April 2022) about their bereavement experiences including support use and perceived helpfulness, unmet support needs and mental health.

Home symptom management training programme: carer evaluation.

Objectives: Most people say if they had a terminal illness, they would prefer to be cared for at home and, if possible, to die there. Often this is not possible without a carer to assist with on-going practical care and symptom management. If breakthrough symptoms are not treated in a timely manner, symptoms can escalate quickly causing increased suffering resulting in unwanted hospital transfers.

An evaluation of an online education programme to improve nurses' ability to support carers to use subcutaneous medicines.

Background: Most Australians say they wish to die at home, but many are admitted to inpatient facilities for symptom management. Caring@home resources can be used to support informal carers to manage breakthrough symptoms safely using subcutaneous medicines. Nurses require education about how to teach informal carers to use these resources.

The Patient Experience After Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection.

Objective: There is considerable burden of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), yet research is limited on the experience and impact of SCAD from the patient perspective. This literature review sought to describe the current state of the literature on the patient experience of SCAD and consequences for patients following a SCAD event from the patient perspective. To better understand how people's experiences of SCAD affect their wellbeing, quality of life, lifestyles, and identity, and what would be useful from the patient perspective, an integrative review was performed.

The role of illness perceptions in delayed care-seeking in heart failure: A mixed-methods study.

Background: Unclear illness perceptions are common in heart failure. The self-regulation model of illness behaviour highlights factors that may impact how people with chronic illness choose to cope with or manage their condition and has been used to study pre-hospital delay for stroke and acute myocardial infarction. The principles of self-regulation can be applied in heart failure to help illuminate the link between unclear illness perceptions and sub-optimal symptom self-management.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Bereavement Experiences Between Hospital and Home Deaths in Palliative Care.

Background: Australian COVID-19 public health measures reduced opportunities for people to communicate with healthcare professionals and be present at the death of family members/friends.

Aim: To understand if pandemic-specific challenges and public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted end-of-life and bereavement experiences differently if the death, supported by palliative care, occurred in a hospital or at home.

Design: A cross-sectional online survey was completed by bereaved adults during 2020-2022.

Hospital-service use in the last year of life by patients aged ⩾60 years who died of heart failure or cardiomyopathy: A retrospective linked data study.

Background: Understanding patterns of health care use in the last year of life is critical in health services planning.

Aim: To describe hospital-based service and palliative care use in hospital in the year preceding death for patients who died of heart failure or cardiomyopathy in Queensland from 2008 to 2018 and had at least one hospitalisation in the year preceding death.

Design: A retrospective data linkage study was conducted using administrative health data relating to hospitalisations, emergency department visits and deaths.

Patient perspectives of positive messages from clinicians: a qualitative secondary analysis and conceptual model.

: A review and meta- analysis of empathic communication and patients' expectations of interventions has shown that if positive messages are delivered there is a small but measurable reduction of pain and anxiety and some improvements in physical outcomes. : To identify elements of health messages that may have a positive impact on patient health outcomes to guide effective nurse-patient- communication. : Data were extracted from each study in a qualitative analysis of a systematic review investigating the health effects of positive messages, and analysed following the principles of thematic analysis.

Educational Needs of People Living with Atrial Fibrillation: A Qualitative Study.

Background This study explored the educational and self-management needs of adults living with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods and Results This is a qualitative study of adults living with AF, clinicians, and expert key stakeholders. Interviews were conducted via a one-to-one semistructured videoconference or phone and transcribed verbatim for thematic analysis.

Family carer needs in advanced disease: systematic review of reviews.

Background: Family carers are vital in the management and delivery of home-based palliative care. Decision-makers need to know what the most commonly expressed unmet needs of family carers are to target available support services.

Aim: To identify the most commonly expressed needs of family carers of people with an advanced disease, assess the quality of current evidence, and set an agenda for future research and clinical practice.

Elements of Integrated Palliative Care in Chronic Heart Failure Across the Care Continuum: A Scoping Review.

Background: Individuals with chronic heart failure experience high symptom burden, reduced quality of life and high health care utilisation. Although there is growing evidence that a palliative approach, provided concurrently with usual treatment improves outcomes, the method of integrating palliative care for individuals living with chronic heart failure across the care continuum remains elusive.

Aim: To examine the key elements of integrated palliative care recommended for individuals living with chronic heart failure across the care continuum.

Factors influencing care-seeking delay or avoidance of heart failure management: A mixed-methods study.

Background: Delayed care-seeking for heart failure symptoms increases the risk of unplanned and frequent hospitalization. Presenting to hospital at a later stage when symptoms are severe requires more complex treatment, contributing to longer lengths of stay and higher risk of mortality. Patient-related factors such as knowledge have been highlighted as key contributors to care-seeking delay, yet little is known about how previous experiences within the healthcare setting, including relationships with providers, influence decisions to engage with health services when required.

Patient preferences for heart failure education and perceptions of patient-provider communication.

Objective: For people managing chronic illness, such as heart failure, adequate health literacy is crucial to understand the complex information that underpins self-care, yet evidence suggests poor understanding in this patient population. To better understand patients' heart failure comprehension and why knowledge gaps may exist, this study sought to explore perceptions of patient-provider communication and ascertain unmet educational needs and preferences.

Methods: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 symptomatic inpatients with heart failure.

Palliative care in chronic heart failure: a theoretically guided, qualitative meta-synthesis of decision-making.

International clinical practice guidelines recommend that patients with chronic heart failure receive timely and high-quality palliative care. However, integrating palliative care is highly variable and dependent on decision-making and care models. This meta-synthesis aimed to examine health care professionals' decision-making processes and explore factors impacting decisions to refer or deliver palliative care in chronic heart failure.

Insights from Australians with respiratory disease living in the community with experience of self-managing through an emergency department 'near miss' for breathlessness: a strengths-based qualitative study.

Objectives: Breathlessness 'crises' in people with chronic respiratory conditions are a common precipitant for emergency department (ED) presentations, many of which might be avoided through improved self-management and support. This study sought insights from people with experience of ED 'near misses' where they considered going to the ED but successfully self-managed instead.

Design And Methods: A qualitative approach was used with a phenomenological orientation.