T underlying philosophy of the Health Act in relation to the three tiers of Government rendering health services in South Africa is to establish flexibility of functions and so to meet local needs and to use local resources to the best advantage. Implicit in this is a co­ ordination of the activities of all three tiers of Govern­ ment, at the same time involving the services of welfare and othe...

The study aimed to find whether subcutaneous morphine administration by syringe driver for terminally ill patients in a Dutch nursing home led to higher morphine doses and earlier death than routine morphine administration. The data comprised the files of all patients dying over a 2 year period in a 355-bed nursing home in Delft in the Netherlands. Thirty-eight per cent of the patients had been...

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of relatives of elderly terminally ill Turks and Moroccans regarding Dutch professional home care and the barriers to the use this care. Nine Turkish and ten Moroccan family members, who recently looked after dying members of their families, were interviewed using a semi-structured topic list. The data was analyzed using the method described ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of a family-oriented inpatient rehabilitation programme on behavioural and emotional problems in healthy siblings of chronically ill children and to assess the association between these problems and quality of life. METHODS A total of 259 healthy children (4-16 years, M = 8.6 years, SD = 3.3) with a chronically ill sibling were enrolled in the study. Parents f...

At 2.00 am on the morning of May 24, 1995 the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Australia passed the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act by the narrow margin of 15 votes to 10. The act permits a terminally ill patient of sound mind and over the age of 18 years, and who is either in pain or suffering, or distress, to request a medical practitioner to assist the patient to terminate his or her...

PURPOSE This study explored the quality and functioning of terminally ill elders' social relationships and their impact on elders' consideration to hasten death. DESIGN AND METHODS In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 96 terminally ill elders. Logistic regression was used to determine whether aspects of social relationships significantly predicted the consideration to hasten ...

This study explored terminally ill elders' anticipation of future support, which may be particularly important due to their vulnerable state and resulting support needs. Qualitative data was gathered from face-to-face interviews with 100 elders receiving hospice care; 85 of whom discussed anticipating future support. Content analysis revealed that anticipating support was based on current exper...

BACKGROUND Previous qualitative research proved that relatives of elderly terminally ill Turkish and Moroccan immigrants experience several barriers to the use of Dutch professional home care. The aim of this study was to explore how general practitioners and home care nurses perceive the home care for terminally ill Turkish and Moroccan migrants and their families in the Netherlands. METHODS...

BACKGROUND Case management programs for chronically ill, homeless people improve health and resource utilization by linking patients with case managers focused on improving management of medical and psychosocial problems. Little is known about participants' perspectives on case management interventions. METHODS This qualitative study used in-depth, one-on-one interviews to understand the impa...

Physical pain, psychological distress and the deleterious effects of medical procedures all cause the chronically ill to suffer as they experience their illnesses. However, a narrow medicalized view of suffering, solely defined as physical discomfort, ignores or minimizes the broader significance of the suffering experienced by debilitated chronically ill adults. A fundamental form of that suff...