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Background: Individuals with an intellectual disability are vulnerable to having end-of-life decisions made for them merely due to the presence of a disability. As a result, decisions made by others may not reflect the exact wishes of the individual. Methods: This review examines literature on individuals with an intellectual disability in making end-of-life decisions from the years 2000 to 2014. A total of 38 articles were found with 12 articles having a direct focus on end-of-life decision making. Results: The emerging themes include the following: (i) assumption of lack of capacity, (ii) inconsistency in evaluating capacity and communication challenges and (iii) third party decisions. Conclusions: Earlier discussions about end-of-life planning before the diagnosis of a life-limiting illness would be beneficial. Lacking is a consistent approach to determining capacity for individuals with an intellectual disability. The findings from this review provide a foundation for a decision tree in end-of-life decision making for individuals with an intellectual disability.

This study evaluates the impact of a college-based dormitory program on transitioning youth with intellectual disabilities. A qualitative study, with interviews at pre and post, was conducted to evaluate the program's impact. Data were collected with semistructured interviews from young adults with intellectual disabilities who participated in a college-based residential program and their parents or guardians. Three general themes emerged from the data: Participants reported experiences that were (a) typical of normative life transitions, (b) typical of growing pains associated with significant life transitions and learning new skills, and (c) one step forward. Results indicate that the experience of living away from home for the first time was in some ways comparable to that of a typical college student. Improvement in life skills, including increased awareness of personal goals, enhanced vocational goals, increased maturity or assertiveness, was reported. Respondents were generally satisfied with the program.

Background: As the older U.S. population becomes more ethnically diverse, there will be an increased need for culturally sensitive hospice care services. Hispanics often experience multiple barriers to quality end-of-life care services.Objective: To address the underlying disparities in the cultural, emotional, and spiritual aspects of hospice care, the objective of the present qualitative study was to examine the emotional and spiritual needs of Hispanic patients' families while in hospice.Method: Semistructured in-person interviews were conducted with 29 Hispanic patients' families regarding their perceived experience of the hospice-based emotional and spiritual support received. Demographic information was collected on both the family member and the patient. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic content analysis.Results: Participant narratives fell into five main themes: (1) the influence of Hispanic culture in the relationship with hospice care providers; (2) types of social support received from hospice; (3) barriers to receiving support; (4) lack of health literacy regarding hospice care; and (5) cultural preferences for religious/spiritual support in hospice.Significance Of Results: Our results provide insight into the specific emotional and spiritual needs of Hispanic families receiving hospice services. Our findings highlight that cultural values play an important role in the hospice care experiences of Hispanic families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating whether socioeconomic characteristics determine if hospice is received at home or in a medical facility is important to examine, considering most patients prefer to die at home. This study relied upon The State Inpatient Data of Nevada. A total of 19 206 discharges were analyzed from the data set between 2009 and 2013. The results indicate that increasingly patients are being discharged to home and overall socioeconomic characteristics appear to have less of an influence over whether hospice is received at home or in a medical facility. Further research on the perspectives of patients would provide insight into whether patients’ preferences or socioeconomic characteristics are more influential on where hospice services are received. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of the Study - The overarching purpose of our study is to explore the creativity perceptions of students, in an attempt to understand how they define it and how they believe it can be infused into any marketing curriculum. Our interest lies in gathering student insights as this is a gap in the current pedagogical literature. Method/Design and Sample - We qualitatively analyze 41 student comments using a semantic analysis tool, we then interpret the results and merge them into a theoretical framework. Results - We find that students value creativity and have definite ideas for infusing it into virtually any marketing curriculum. The exploratory analysis shows that active learning in combination with social construction of knowledge can foster creativity enhancement in the classroom, and we offer the Constructivist Learning framework as our theory base. Value to Marketing Educators - As marketing courses often involve projects and those are usually done in groups, the intersection of creativity with social processes is fortunate. Professors can readily create an active learning environment wherein groups encourage creative collaboration through divergent thinking. The incorporation of these group sessions into regular courses, even if done as separate lab sessions, will build team cohesion, increase contagious motivation, and ultimately increase team creativity. Our study indicates that students are cognizant of the concept of creativity but believe that it is not normally rewarded and that they are given minimal time to commit to creative endeavors. Therefore, it is incumbent upon marketing professors to redefine rubrics and reward increased student creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:The Family Evaluation of Hospice Care (FEHC) survey is widely employed by hospices, and several studies have examined this information to help inform and enhance end-of-life services. However, these studies have largely focused on examining relatively straightforward associations between variables and have not tested larger models that could reveal more complex effects. The present study aimed to examine the direct and mediating (i.e., via information/education, patient care, and family support) effects of demographic factors, length of stay, timing of referral, patient symptom severity, location of services, and relationship to caregiver on two outcome variables: overall satisfaction and caregiver confidence.Method:Surveys were collected from 3226 participants who had lost a loved one who received hospice services. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine the direct and mediating effects of the independent variables on the two outcomes of interest.Results:Participants reporting on racial minority patients, patients with more symptoms, and those referred too late or too early were the most likely to express some discontentment with hospice services. The information/education these individuals received was the only mediating factor significantly associated with caregiver confidence. More positive perceptions of patient care and information/education were both significantly related to greater overall satisfaction.Significance of Results:These findings help to (1) pinpoint those most at risk for being less satisfied with hospice, (2) identify which aspects of care may be most strongly related to overall outcomes, and (3) provide a model for examining complex associations among FEHC variables that may be employed by other researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Creativity is vital to the learning process of social work students. Despite its importance, educators are still uncertain of ways to enhance creativity and translate it from classroom to practice. Therefore, this study examines social work student perspectives on ways to define creativity, infuse it into the classroom, and apply it as practitioners. This study qualitatively explores the open-ended insights of 37 social work students. Through an unguided semantic analysis and application of Kolb’s experiential learning theory, the following themes emerged: classroom, creativity, performance, activities, and ideas. These themes indicate that students believe that additional creative opportunities in their classrooms would eventually benefit them as practitioners. Further pedagogical emphasis on increasing student creativity through experiential learning activities would be beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]