scholarly journals End of Life: A Family Narrative

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen K. Black ◽  
Miriam S. Moss ◽  
Robert L. Rubinstein ◽  
Sidney Z. Moss

This paper is based on ethnographic research that examines family reaction to an elderly husband and father's end of life. From a group of 30 families in our study (family defined as a widow aged 70 and over and two adult biological children between the ages of 40 and 60), we offer an extreme case example of family bereavement. We report our findings through the open-ended responses of a widow and two children who were interviewed ten months after the death of the husband and father. Three general themes emerged: (1) how the family imputes meaning to the end of life, (2) changes in the roles of family members, and (3) the family's ways of coping with the death, particularly through their belief system. A key finding is that the meaning family members find in their loved one's death is tied to the context of his death (how and where he died), their perception of his quality of life as a whole, and their philosophical, religious, and spiritual beliefs about life, death, and the afterlife that are already in place.

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 1025-1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaya Miyajima ◽  
Daisuke Fujisawa ◽  
Kimio Yoshimura ◽  
Masaya Ito ◽  
Satomi Nakajima ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Duke ◽  
◽  
Natasha Campling ◽  
Carl R. May ◽  
Susi Lund ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Many people move in and out of hospital in the last few weeks of life. These care transitions can be distressing for family members because they signify the deterioration and impending death of their ill relative and forthcoming family bereavement. Whilst there is evidence about psychosocial support for family members providing end-of-life care at home, there is limited evidence about how this can be provided in acute hospitals during care transitions. Consequently, family members report a lack of support from hospital-based healthcare professionals. Methods The aim of the study was to implement research evidence for family support at the end-of-life in acute hospital care. Informed by Participatory Learning and Action Research and Normalization Process Theory (NPT) we co-designed a context-specific intervention, the Family-Focused Support Conversation, from a detailed review of research evidence. We undertook a pilot implementation in three acute hospital Trusts in England to assess the potential for the intervention to be used in clinical practice. Pilot implementation was undertaken during a three-month period by seven clinical co-researchers - nurses and occupational therapists in hospital specialist palliative care services. Implementation was evaluated through data comprised of reflective records of intervention delivery (n = 22), in-depth records of telephone implementation support meetings between research team members and co-researchers (n = 3), and in-depth evaluation meetings (n = 2). Data were qualitatively analysed using an NPT framework designed for intervention evaluation. Results Clinical co-researchers readily incorporated the Family-Focused Support Conversation into their everyday work. The intervention changed family support from being solely patient-focused, providing information about patient needs, to family-focused, identifying family concerns about the significance and implications of discharge and facilitating family-focused care. Co-researchers reported an increase in family members’ involvement in discharge decisions and end-of-life care planning. Conclusion The Family-Focused Support Conversation is a novel, evidenced-based and context specific intervention. Pilot implementation demonstrated the potential for the intervention to be used in acute hospitals to support family members during end-of-life care transitions. This subsequently informed a larger scale implementation study. Trial registration n/a.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 815-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara L. Wallace

AbstractObjective:Patients and families coping with a terminal illness are faced with a number of decisions over the course of their disease. The role that family communication plays in the process of decision making is an important one. The objectives for this review are to examine the current state of empirical literature on the relationship between family communication and decision making about end-of-life care, to identify gaps, and to discuss implications for policy, practice, and future research.Method:Articles were identified using systematic keyword searches within the following relevant databases: Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Plus, Communications and Mass Media Complete, ERIC, PsychINFO, MEDLINE, SocINDEX, and ProQuest.Results:The three bodies of relevant literature that emerged during this review include: (1) the importance of family communication at the end of life (EoL); (2) family decision making at the EoL; and (3) the interrelationship of communication (both within the family and with healthcare professionals) and decision making at the EoL. While the literature highlights the role of communication between medical professionals and the patient or family members, there is very little focus on the process of how family communication among the family members themselves contributes to decision making at the end of life.Significance of results:Barriers to end-of-life care are important considerations for helping patients to access timely and appropriate services. Understanding the pertinent role of family communication as it relates to the decision for EoL care is the first step in working to provide another avenue for overcoming these barriers.


Author(s):  
N.S. Artiomova ◽  
S.M. Tsvirenko ◽  
A.A. Kalyuzhka ◽  
L.A. Zhuk ◽  
H.O. Soloviova

Introduction. All children who have an oncological or hematologic diagnosis during the period of diagnosis of treatment are in specialized departments, but failing of effective training of the patient, parents and family members in child care skills, with an oncological diagnosis negatively affects the results of treatment and the quality of life of the family. The process of training parents and family members allows the medical team to correct incorrect and false information that family members can get from different sources, as well as strengthen the skills of caring for a child with an oncological diagnosis in the conditions familiar to the family. The research objective is to develop an algorithm that can be used in practice to control the learning process of parents and family members of children with an oncological or oncological and hematological diagnosis. Materials and methods. As a basis for the development of the algorithm, we took the recommendations of experts from the 2016 Children's Cancer Group. Results and its discussion. An algorithm has been developed and adapted that is based on five basic principles: the perception and awareness that in pediatric oncology the education of parents and family members should be family oriented; Awareness of the child’s oncological diagnosis is emotionally difficult and takes some time to develop a plan to address current life needs; training of cancer patients, his parents and family members should be an interprofessional event, which is based on diagnosis and treatment, as well as discussion of psychosocial support and the organization of basic child care; training should be continuous and continuous; It is necessary to create an enabling environment for learning. Conclusions. Implementation in practice and the implementation of the training algorithm for caring for a child with an oncological diagnosis, the use of an integrative direction of training for family doctors will provide the opportunity to work with the main educational content, establish and strengthen feedback between doctors in specialized hospitals and family outpatient clinics, and increase the effectiveness of the prevention of complications that arise upon receipt of special treatment (polychemotherapy, radiation therapy, etc.), which in turn will lead to an improvement the quality of family life while receiving therapy with a child diagnosed with cancer.


Author(s):  
Donna S. Zhukovsky

Advance care planning is a complex process whereby an individual reflects on future care options at the end of life after reflecting on his or her values and goals for care. These values, goals, and preferences are then communicated to key stakeholders in the process (i.e., proxy and surrogate decision-makers, family members, and health care providers). It is unclear how well the completion of advance directives and a written outcome of advance care planning affect desired patient outcomes. In this chapter, a critical review is provided of a mortality follow-back survey that evaluates the association of advance directives with quality of end-of-life care from the perspective of bereaved family members. Study strengths and limitations are described, as are directions for future research.


KIRYOKU ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Fajria Noviana

Pets as  human substitute in Japanese family. This study aims to describe the Japanese society's view of pets, especially in relation to the substitution of the position of family members, especially children, in a family. This is in line with the emergence of a phenomenon whereby the presence of children in the family has been replaced by pets, especially for those who choose not to have children or elderly citizens. The method used is analytical descriptive method and literature study. From the analysis results, it is known that the presence of pets in lieu of the presence of friends, family members, even biological child (human substitute) for some Japanese is a necessity. On the one hand, this can be seen as something positive because it raises human awareness in animals. But on the other hand, this can be interpreted as a decrease in the quantity and quality of interaction among human beings, which in the long term can affect a person's ability to show empathy to others.Keywords: pet; pet attachment; human substitute


Author(s):  
Cristina Jenaro ◽  
Noelia Flores ◽  
Belén Gutiérrez-Bermejo ◽  
Vanessa Vega ◽  
Carmen Pérez ◽  
...  

(1) Background. This study assesses the quality of life in families with a member with an intellectual disability using the Family Adjustment and Adaptation Response framework. (2) Methods. The study included 515 Spanish participants whose family members with disabilities range in age from infancy to adulthood. We hypothesized that it is possible to predict parenting stress by paying attention to the meaning families give to themselves and their circumstances while controlling for the impact of other variables such as family capabilities and characteristics of the family member with disabilities. We used the Beach Center Family Quality of Life Scale and the section on Exceptional needs of medical and behavioral support from the Supports Intensity Scale, together with other potential predictors. The subscale on parental stress from the Parenting Stress Index–Short Form was utilized as a criterion measure. (3) Results. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that 49% of parental stress was predicted by dysfunctional interaction, difficult behaviors, low emotional wellbeing, poor family interaction, as well as kinship as parents, and the severity of both the medical needs and intellectual disability. (4) Conclusions. The stress experienced by those families is mostly predicted by the meaning they give to themselves and their circumstances. Implications of these findings for service delivery are discussed.


1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoshana Blum-Kulka ◽  
Catherine E. Snow

Abstract Dinner-table conversations are contexts in which children become socialized to local cultural rules regulating storytelling and may be able to achieve autonomy in telling stories, as tellers of stories, and in the content or tale recounted. Conversations from five American and five Israeli middle-class families and five American working-class families matched on family constellation generated 33, 40, and 15 narratives, respectively. Each of the groups demonstrated a different pattern on dimensions such as who participated in telling narratives, who initi-ated narratives, and how secondary narrators participated; Israeli family narra-tives were more collaborative but with relatively little child participation, whereas American middle-class children participated more by initiating their own narratives and American working-class children narrated in response to adult elicitation. All three groups demanded fidelity to truth and coherence in the tales children told, but many more of the narratives told in Israeli families had to do with events known to all the family members, whereas American children told stories about events unfamiliar to at least some family members. (Communication)


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