Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39485051›Full record

ArticleThe American journal of hospice & palliative care2025

Healthcare Professionals' Perspective on Supporting Patients and Family Caregivers in End-Of-Life Care Decision-Making: A Qualitative Study in Specialist Palliative Care.

Hannah J Featherstone, Regina McQuillan, Geraldine Foley

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The American journal of hospice & palliative care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Hannah J FeatherstoneDiscipline of Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.ORCID 0000-0002-9284-3130
Regina McQuillanSt. Francis Hospice, Dublin, Ireland.
Geraldine FoleyDiscipline of Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BackgroundHealthcare professionals in specialist palliative care have a key role in conducting end-of-life care discussions with patients and their family caregivers. We aimed to identify key barriers and facilitators for healthcare professionals in specialist palliative care to support patients and their family caregivers in decision-making for patient end-of-life care.MethodsTwenty-two healthcare professionals from different healthcare professions were recruited from a large regional specialist palliative care service in Ireland comprising 2 hospice sites. Five focus groups were conducted with participants. Data were member checked and analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsOpen communication and trusting relationships with patients and family caregivers combined with sufficient time for early and phased exploration of the patient's preferences for end-of-life care, were key facilitators for participants. Family caregivers keeping information from the patient, family misunderstanding about who is responsible for decision-making, and a lack of involvement of other specialties in end-of-life care discussions were perceived by participants as key barriers. Although participants indicated they had sufficient expertise to support patients in end-of-life care decision-making, they felt that end-of-life care discussions were not solely the responsibility of specialist palliative care services.ConclusionOpen communication with patients in end-of-life care decision-making can be of central importance for healthcare professionals in specialist palliative care. Further research is needed to understand the role of healthcare professionals outside of specialist palliative care in end-of-life care discussions and decision-making.

Indexed as

Attitude of Health PersonnelCaregiversDecision MakingHealth PersonnelPalliative CareTerminal CareAdultCommunicationFemaleFocus GroupsHumansIrelandMaleMiddle AgedProfessional-Family RelationsQualitative Researchdecision-makingfamily caregivershealthcare professionalspatientsspecialist palliative carethematic analysis

Identifiers

PMID39485051
PMCPMC12371137

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.