This study examines the relationships between friends; a caregiver who provides care to a care recipient, who is a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) adult over age 50 in need of assistance due to chronic physical or mental health conditions. Using a sample of 18 care pairs (n = 36), this work examines qualitative interview data. Findings from the study include: (a) both the care recipient and the...

BACKGROUND Some people who by themselves or by others are understood as having mental health problems have written autobiographies about their experiences. AIMS The aim of this study is to explore how people write about their experiences of being mentally ill. METHOD Twelve Scandinavian autobiographies were studied using content analysis based on phenomenology and hermeneutics. RESULTS Th...

Why should anyone care how convicts die? For some, humane treatment is the right thing to do, but others feel criminals deserve whatever happens. American courts have affirmed society’s responsibility to provide a community level of care for prisoners. Many challenges confronting corrections in delivering excellent end-of-life care are similar to those facing the nation’s health care system. Ch...

With the passing of the Mental Health Act 1959, the task of caring for the mentally ill and those in need of mental rehabilitation is now laid on a far wider section of the community. Since one of the basic aims of the new act is to bring mental health into lino with physical health, entry to hospital for those in need of treatment is now on more informal lines. We know that plans are being mad...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have assessed family quality of life in individual disease areas and specialties. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of disease on family members of patients over a wide range of specialties and identify key impact areas. This information is essential in order to reveal the extent of this impact and to allow strategies to be developed to support the ...

Chronic diseases can adversely affect the development process of children. This qualitative, action-research study had the aim to analyze the effects of activities in the manual "Como H6spede no Hospital" (As a patient in the hospital) on the coping process of children with chronic diseases. Study participants included six children and adolescents aged seven to 13 years, who suffered from a chr...

PURPOSE Previous studies suggest that the highest-risk patients value accessible, coordinated primary care that they perceive to be of high technical quality. We have limited understanding, however, of how low-income, chronically ill patients and the staff who care for them experience each individual step in the primary care process. METHODS We conducted qualitative interviews with uninsured ...

journal of law, medicine & ethics Growth of the world’s population is accelerating. It reached one billion people in 1800, and added the next billion by 1930 — 130 years later. The population reached three billion by 1960 — in only 30 years — and ever since then, a billion more people have been added every 12-13 years. The world’s population now stands at nearly seven billion, and epidemiologis...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have documented that hospice enrollment by terminally ill cancer patients varies substantially by patient characteristics and across broad geographic regions, but little is known about how local practice patterns and individual physicians contribute to these variations. We examined hospice use within a regional integrated health care delivery system that provides con...