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The principles of palliative care were developed in hospices and specialised palliative care units and have not been sufficiently adapted to and evaluated in nursing homes. Therefore, an educational intervention from an interprofessional education perspective was performed within the project Implementation of Knowledge-Based Palliative Care in Nursing Homes. The aim of this study was to evaluate professionals' experience of palliative care delivery before and after the educational intervention.The educational intervention for nursing home professionals consisted of five 2-h seminars over 6 months at 20 nursing homes. The intervention and control groups consisted of 129 and 160 professionals from 30 nursing homes respectively. The questionnaire 'Your experience of palliative care' was completed 1 month before (baseline) and after (follow-up) the intervention. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated.The positive effects at follow-up concerned the use of a valid scale for grading symptoms, attendance to the needs of next of kin (including bereavement support), documentation of older persons' wishes regarding place to die and conversations about their transition to palliative care and about how they were treated.This study demonstrates a promising interprofessional educational model. However, the paucity of improvements brought to light at follow-up indicates a need for research directed towards a revision of this model. Supervision of professionals during palliative care delivery is one suggestion for change.

Background Being involved in the care of a loved one is a desire of many next of kin. However, according to several studies of the perceptions of nursing home staff, the involvement of next of kin is not an obvious part of care. To be able to involve next of kin in care at nursing homes, the perceptions of what participation means are an important piece of knowledge. The aim of this study was therefore to describe variations in next of kins perceptions of the meaning of participation in the care of older persons living in nursing homes. Methods Eighteen next of kin of older persons living in ten nursing homes in Sweden were recruited for interviews. The study design was based on a phenomenographic approach, focusing on the qualitatively different ways in which a person perceives, experiences or conceptualises a phenomenon or certain aspect of reality. Results Five categories emerged from analysis of the interviews, representing the next of kins perceptions of the meaning of participation in the care of older persons in nursing homes: be present; communicate; monitor; do practical tasks; and to represent. The next of kin expressed meanings that belonged to more than one category, and the categories were interdependent. Conclusions Our results indicate that there are several meanings of next of kins perceptions of participation at nursing homes. Nursing home staffs knowledge of these perceptions is important to enable next of kin to participate according to their own preferences. Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council; Vardal Foundation; Greta and Johan Kock Foundation; Ragnhild and Einar Lundstrom foundation; Ribbingska Memorial Foundation

BACKGROUND: Older people with multi-morbidity are major users of healthcare and are often discharged from hospital with ongoing care needs. This care is frequently provided by informal caregivers and the time immediately after discharge is challenging for caregivers with new and/or additional tasks, resulting in anxiety and stress.AIM: This study aimed to describe mental health, with particular reference to anxiety and depression and reactions to caregiving, and to investigate any associations between the two, in next of kin of older people with multi-morbidity after hospitalisation. It also aimed to explore the association between the demographic characteristics of the study group and mental health and reactions to caregiving.METHODS: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Caregiver Reaction Assessment. The study group consisted of 345 next of kin of older people (65+) with multi-morbidity discharged home from 13 medical wards in Sweden. Data were analysed using descriptive and analytical statistics. To identify whether reactions to caregiving and next of kin characteristics were associated with anxiety and depression, a univariate logistic regression analysis was performed.RESULTS: More than one quarter of respondents showed severe anxiety and nearly one in 10 had severe depressive symptoms. The frequencies of anxiety and depression increased significantly with increased negative reactions to caregiving and decreased significantly with positive reactions to caregiving. Regarding caregiving reactions, the scores were highest for the positive domain Caregiver esteem, followed by the negative domain Impact on health. Women scored significantly higher than men on Impact on health and spouses scored highest for Impact on schedule and Caregiver esteem.CONCLUSIONS: Nurses and other healthcare professionals may need to provide additional support to informal caregivers before and after discharging older people with significant care needs from hospital. This might include person-centred information, education and training. (Less)

Background The goals of palliative care are to relieve suffering and promote quality of life. Palliative care for older persons has been less prioritised than palliative care for younger people with cancer, which may lead to unnecessary suffering and decreased quality of life at the final stage of life. Aim To evaluate whether a palliative care intervention had any influence on the perceived quality of life of older persons (≥65 years). Methods This study was conducted as a complex intervention performed with an experimental crossover design. The intervention was implemented in 20 nursing homes, with a six‐month intervention period in each nursing home. Twenty‐three older persons (≥65 years) in the intervention group and 29 in the control group were interviewed using the WHOQOL‐BREF and WHOQOL‐OLD questionnaires at both baseline and follow‐up. The collected data were analysed using the Wilcoxon signed‐rank test to compare paired data between baseline and follow‐up. Results In the intervention group, no statistically significant increases in quality of life were found. This result contrasted with the control group, which revealed statistically significant declines in quality of life at both the dimension and item levels. Accordingly, this study showed a trend of decreased health after nine months in both the intervention and control groups. Conclusion It is reasonable to believe that quality of life decreases with age as part of the natural course of the ageing process. However, it seems that the palliative care approach of the intervention prevented unnecessary quality of life decline by supporting sensory abilities, autonomy and social participation among older persons in nursing homes. From the ageing perspective, it may not be realistic to strive for an increased quality of life in older people living in nursing homes; maybe the goal should be to delay or prevent reduced quality of life. Based on this perspective, the intervention prevented decline in quality of life in nursing home residents. Implications for practice The high number of deaths shows the importance to identify palliative care needs in older persons at an early stage to prevent or delay deterioration of quality of life.

Quality within all areas of healthcare should be systemically monitored and ensured. However, the definition of quality is complex and diverse. In the ambulance service (AS), quality has traditionally been defined as response time, but this measurement eliminates the possibility of addressing other characteristics of quality, such as the care provided. This study aimed to explore what constitutes quality in the context of the ambulance service as experienced by ambulance clinicians, physicians, and managers. A focus group study was conducted with 18 participants. The three focus groups were analyzed with the focus group method developed by Kreuger and Casey. The participants highlighted patient involvement, information and care, as well as adherence to policies, regulations, and their own standards as representing quality in the AS. This study demonstrates that quality is in the eye of the beholder. As quality seems to be viewed similarly by patients and ambulance clinicians, physicians, and managers, stakeholders should aim for a paradigm shift where patients&rsquo, experience of the care is just as important as various time measures.

Background: The demography of the world is changing as the population is ageing. Because of this change to a higher proportion of older people, the WHO has called for improved palliative care for older persons. A large number of all deaths in the industrialised world occur while older people are living in nursing homes and therefore a key question becomes how the principles of palliative care can be implemented in that context. The aims of this study are: a) to describe a model of an educational intervention with the goal of implementing knowledge-based palliative care in nursing homes, and b) to describe the design of the evaluation of the effectiveness regarding the implementation of knowledge-based palliative care. Methods/design: A complex intervention is evaluated by means of a cross-over design. An educational intervention concerning palliative care consisting of five seminars during 6 months for staff and managers has been developed and conducted in 20 nursing homes in two counties. Before the intervention started, the feasibility was tested in a pilot study conducted in nursing homes not included in the main study. The intervention is evaluated through a non-randomized experimental design with intervention and control groups and pre- and post-assessments. The evaluation includes older persons living in nursing homes, next-of-kin, staff and managers. Data collection consists of quantitative methods such as questionnaires and register data and qualitative methods in the form of individual interviews, focus-group interviews and participant observations. Discussion: The research will contribute to new knowledge about how to implement knowledge-based palliative care in a nursing home setting. A strength of this project is that the Medical Research Council framework of complex intervention is applied. The four recommended stages, Development, Feasibility and piloting, Evaluation and Implementation, are combined for the educational intervention, which functions as a strategy to achieve knowledge-based palliative care in the nursing homes. Implementation is always a question of change and a good theoretical understanding is needed for drawing valid conclusions about the causal mechanisms of change. The topic is highly relevant considering the worlds ageing population. The data collection is completed and the analysis is ongoing. Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council; Vardal Foundation; Faculty of Medicine, Lund University; City of Lund; Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Linnaeus University; Palliative Care Institute at Lund University and Region Skane; Greta and Johan Kock Foundation; Ribbingska Memorial Foundation

Nursing homes are often places where older persons &ldquo, come to die.&rdquo, Despite this, death and dying are seldom articulated or talked about. The aim of this study was to explore assistant nurses&rsquo, experiences of conversations about death and dying with nursing home residents. This study is part of an implementation project through a knowledge-based educational intervention based on palliative care principles. An ethnographic study design was applied in seven nursing homes, where eight assistant nurses were interviewed and followed in their daily assignments through participant observations. The assistant nurses stated that they had the knowledge and tools to conduct such conversations, even though they lacked the time and felt that emotional strain could be a hinder for conversations about death and dying. The assistant nurses used the strategies of distracting, comforting, and disregarding either when they perceived that residents&rsquo, reflections on death and dying were part of their illness and disease or when there was a lack of alignment between the residents&rsquo, contemplations and the concept of dying well. They indicated that ambivalence and ambiguity toward conversations about death and dying should be taken into consideration in future implementations of knowledge-based palliative care that take place in nursing homes after this project is finalized.

Most of the care in nursing homes is palliative in nature, as it is the oldest and the frailest people who live in nursing homes. The aim of this study was to explore next of kin's experiences of participating in the care of older persons at nursing homes. A qualitative design was used, based on semi-structured interviews with 40 next of kin, and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. An overarching theme emerged, a balancing act consisting of three categories: (1) visiting the nursing home; (2) building and maintaining relationships; and (3) gathering and conveying information. The next of kin have to balance their own responsibility for the older person's wellbeing by taking part in their care and their need to leave the responsibility to the staff due to critical health conditions. The next of kin wanted to participate in care meetings and conversations, not only in practical issues. The findings indicate the need to improve the next of kin's participation in the care as an equal partner. Increased knowledge about palliative care and decision-making of limiting life-prolonging treatment may lead to a higher quality of care.

ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Chinese translation of the English version of the Person-centred Climate Questionnaire – Staff version (PCQ-S) for Chinese palliative care staff in a hospital context.DesignThis was a cross-sectional design. The 14-item English PCQ-S was translated and backtranslated using established procedures. Construct validity and reliability including internal consistency and test-retest reliability were assessed among hospital staff. Construct validity was tested using principal component analysis (PCA), internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, and test-retest reliability was evaluated with the weighted kappa (Kp), Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC).SettingThis study was conducted in three hospitals in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in south-west China.ParticipantsA sample of hospital staff (n=163) on duty in the palliative care departments of three hospitals in Kunming consented to participate in the study.ResultsThe 14-item Chinese PCQ-S consists of the three subscales also present in other language versions. It showed strong internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.94 for the total scale, 0.87 for the safety subscale, 0.90 for the everydayness subscale and 0.88 for the community subscale. The Chinese PCQ-S had high test-retest reliability as evidenced by a high Kp coefficient and a high correlation coefficient for all scales between test and retest scores, on ‘a climate of safety’ (Kp=0.77, r=0.88, pConclusionsThe Chinese version of the PCQ-S showed satisfactory reliability and validity for assessing staff perceptions of person-centred care in Chinese hospital environments.

Aim The aim was to explore the ambulance service as experienced by present and former employees. Background Over the last decade, the number of ambulance assignments has increased annually by about 10%, and as many as 50% of all ambulance assignments are considered non-urgent. This raises questions about which assignments the Ambulance Service (AS) is supposed to deal with. Design/method Data were collected from three focus group interviews with a total of 18 present and former employees of the Swedish AS. An inductive qualitative analysis method developed by Krueger was chosen. Results Five themes emerged in the analysis: "Poor guidance for practice", "An unclear assignment", "Being a gate keeper", "From saving lives to self-care" and "Working in no man's land", which together constitute the AS. Conclusion Present and former employees of the AS in Sweden describe their mission as unclear and recognize the lack of consensus and a clearly developed mission statement. Furthermore, expectations and training mainly focus on emergency response, which is contrary to the reality of the ambulance clinicians' everyday work.

This study was intended to evaluate a multi-professional health-promoting and disease-preventive intervention organized as multi-professional senior group meetings, which addressed home-dwelling, independently living, cognitively intact elderly persons (80±), by exploring the participants' experiences of the intervention.The focus group methodology was used to interview a total of 20 participants. The informants had participated in four multi-professional senior group meetings at which information about the ageing process and preventive strategies for enhancing health were discussed.The overall finding was that the elderly persons involved in the intervention lived in the present, but that the supportive environment together with learning a preventive approach contributed to the participants' experiencing the senior meetings as a key to action.Elderly persons who are independent may have difficulty accepting information about preventing risks to health. However, group education with a multi-professional approach may be a successful model for achieving an exchange of knowledge, which may possibly empower the participants, give them role models, the opportunity to learn from each other and a sense of sharing problems with people in similar circumstances.

Very old persons (80+) are often described as "frail", implying that they are particularly vulnerable to adverse health outcomes. Elderly Persons in the Risk Zone was designed to determine whether a preventive home visit or multiprofessional senior group meetings could postpone deterioration in frailty if the intervention is carried out when the person is not so frail.The study was a RCT with follow-ups at 1 and 2 years. A total of 459 persons (80+), still living at home, were included. Participants were independent in activities of daily life and cognitively intact.Frailty was measured in two complementary ways, with the sum of eight frailty indicators and with the Mob-T Scale measuring tiredness in daily activities.Both interventions showed favorable effects in postponing the progression of frailty measured as tiredness in daily activities for up to 1 year. However, neither of the two interventions was effective in postponing frailty measured with the sum of frailty indicators.The results in this study show the potential of health promotion to older persons. The multiprofessional approach, including a broad spectrum of information and knowledge, might have been an important factor contributing to a more positive view of aging.

The aim of this study was to analyze the long-term effect of the two health-promoting and disease-preventive interventions, preventive home visits and senior meetings, with respect to morbidity, symptoms, self-rated health and satisfaction with health. The study was a three-armed randomized, single-blind, and controlled trial, with follow-ups at one and two years after interventions. A total of 459 persons aged 80 years or older and still living at home were included in the study. Participants were independent in ADL and without overt cognitive impairment. An intention-to-treat analysis was performed. The result shows that both interventions delayed a progression in morbidity, i.e. an increase in CIRS-G score (OR = 0.44 for the PHV and OR = 0.61 for senior meetings at one year and OR = 0.60 for the PHV and OR = 0.52 for the senior meetings at two years) and maintained satisfaction with health (OR = 0.49 for PHV and OR = 0.57 for senior meetings at one year and OR = 0.43 for the PHV and OR = 0.28 for senior meetings after two years) for up to two years. The intervention senior meetings prevented a decline in self-rated health for up to one year (OR = 0.55). However, no significant differences were seen in postponing progression of symptoms in any of the interventions. This study shows that it is possible to postpone a decline in health outcomes measured as morbidity, self-rated health and satisfaction with health in very old persons at risk of frailty. Success factors might be the multi-dimensional and the multi-professional approach in both interventions. Trial registration: NCT0087705.

Background: As more people reach older age, there is a growing interest in improving old person's health, activity, independence and social participation, thereby adding quality to the extended years. Preventive home visits (PHV) programs for old people have received much attention in recent decades. A large body of research shows mixed effects, and argues that a home visit is a complex social process influenced by numerous factors. To evaluate the impact of PHV, as well as making decisions on whether, how, and to whom the service should be provided, requires a deeper understanding of PHV than we have now. Consequently, the aim of the study was to describe the variations in older people's (80+) experiences of a single preventive home visit and its consequences for health. Methods: Seventeen participants between 80 and 92 years of age who had all received a structured PHV were interviewed in their own homes. The interviews were analyzed using the phenomenographic method, looking at the variations in the participants' experiences. Results: The interviews revealed four categories: "The PHV made me visible and proved my human value"; "The PHV brought a feeling of security"; "The PHV gave an incentive to action"; and "The PHV was not for me". Conclusions: The experiences of a PHV were twofold. On one hand, the positive experiences indicate that one structured PHV was able to empower the participants and strengthen their self-esteem, making them feel in control over their situation and more aware of the importance of keeping several steps ahead. Together this could motivate them to take measures and engage in health-promoting activities. On the other hand, the PHV was experienced as being of no value by a few. These findings may partly explain the positive results from PHV interventions and emphasize that one challenge for health care professionals is to motivate older people who are healthy and independent to engage in health-promoting and disease-preventive activities.