In seeking to understand the social representation of the use of the wheelchair through the analysis of interviews with ten people who have suffered spinal cord injury, the construction of five representations was elaborated. The phenomenon experienced regarding the wheelchair provided a route of meanings and symbologies: essential equipment, after the person perceive the inability to walk; a s...

OBJECTIVE To understand the process of end-of-life care delivery to the families of elderly patients according to a Family Health Strategy (FHS) team, to identify the meanings the team attributes to the experience and to build a theoretical model. METHOD Symbolic Interactionism and Grounded Theory were applied. Fourteen professionals working in an FHS located in a country town in the state of...

BACKGROUND Although most older people living in nursing homes die there, there is a dearth of robust evaluations of interventions to improve their end-of-life care. Residents usually have multiple health problems making them heavily reliant on staff for their care, which can erode their sense of dignity. Dignity Therapy has been developed to help promote dignity and reduce distress. It comprise...

BACKGROUND Respecting dignity is having a profound effect on the clinical relationship and the care framework for terminally ill patients in palliative care units, hospices and their own homes, with particular consequences for the emergency department. However, dignity is a vague and multifaceted concept that is difficult to measure. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to define the attributes...

BACKGROUND Dignity is a complex concept and there is little empirical research to show how older people view dignity. This study, using qualitative methods, explored the concept of dignity from the older person's perspective. METHODS 15 focus groups and two individual interviews were conducted in 12 different settings, with a total of 72 participants. Participants were purposively sampled to ...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To assess the feasibility, acceptability and potential effectiveness of Dignity Therapy to improve the quality of life and reduce psychological and spiritual distress in older people with early stage dementia. BACKGROUND Dementia is a syndrome with several causes that leads to a progressive decline in multiple areas of functioning. The maintenance of dignity and enhancemen...