Purpose: Within the contemporary socio-political context of palliative care and an aging demography, there is a called-for shift to an upstream provision of palliative care in the form of a palliative approach to care as well as to frame access to palliative care within a health equity perspective. In the literature, there is a paucity of nurses’ experiences in the provision of palliative care within psychiatric settings. Moreover, little is known of the process by which nurses engage in a palliative approach to care for patients experiencing multiple marginalities, including institutionalization, mental health, and advanced age. This research explored how nurses in forensic and geriatric psychiatry engage with aging patients and mortal considerations to discern how ethical dimensions of care, aligned within the palliative approach, are enacted. An ethical lens by which to apprehend dimensions of human finitude, reflective of central elements of the palliative approach and public health palliative care, was proposed to help to delineate a process of recognition through which values can be identified in the care of patients. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the phenomenon by which nurses engaged with mortality as both an antecedent to adopting a palliative approach and as a phenomenon that captures nurses’ continued engagement with patients within this approach. Objectives: There were three objectives to the project: 1) explore nurses’ engagement with mortality within an ethics of finitude; 2) identify enablers and barriers, and related historical and socio-political discourses, to engagement of nurses with their patients within an ethics of finitude, and; 3) articulate and deepen understanding of the palliative approach, including ethical dimensions and considerations. The research was an analytical elaboration of a qualitative study at the University of Ottawa that examined the palliative approach to nursing care in forensic and geriatric psychiatry at a mental health facility in eastern Ontario. Methods: Situated within a constructivist epistemic stance, the analytical framework elaborated for this analysis drew from both interpretive description (ID) and interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Utilizing convenience sampling, eight Registered Nurses (7 women and 1 man) working in forensic or geriatric psychiatry completed interviews. Findings: Engagement of nurses within an ethics of finitude was revealed to surface through a process of recognition (recognition of mortality, recognition of the increased vulnerability of patients, and recognition of a corresponding increased responsibility for vulnerable patients) and through the affirmation of values including human connection, dignity, comfort, family, familiarity, and personhood. Barriers and enablers to this engagement emerged related to the care environment, the psychiatric nurse and patient construction, and factors related to family. The implications of the related discourses in the articulation of the palliative approach emerged in relation to health system considerations and to the language of the palliative approach. Conclusion: The process of recognition explored through the proposed ethical lens and revealed in the findings delineated values that underpin the palliative approach by offering an alternate conceptualization to their identification and enactment. Insights from this project underscore preliminary insights on a process to identify care practices aligned within the palliative approach as well as possibilities for critical questioning related to interconnected axes of an ethics of finitude in both the care of individual patients and in the enactment of health policy.

Bakgrund: Ett palliativt förhållningssätt är en förutsättning för att kunna ge palliativ vård där behov finns och ska underlätta de utmaningar som personer och deras närstående möter i samband med allvarlig sjukdom. Att vårda utifrån ett palliativt förhållningssätt tydliggör patienternas behov av åtgärder som ger ökad livskvalitet och minskar lidandet för svårt sjuka personer. Sjuksköterskans omvårdnads kompetens utgör en betydande del i den palliativa vården. Många allvarligt kroniskt sjuka lever längre i dag och får vård i hemmet via kommunala hemsjukvårdssjuksköterskor. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva kommunala hemsjukvårdssjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att integrera ett palliativt förhållningssätt för personer med allvarlig kronisk sjukdom i hemmet. Metod: En litteraturöversikt där 13 originalartiklar analyserades med en strukturerad tematisk analys enligt Bettany-Saltikov och McSherry (2016). Resultat: Resultatet sammanställdes i tre huvudteman med totalt åtta underteman. Att leda var det första huvudtemat och innefattade tre underteman: ansvar, kunskap och påfrestningar. Miljö var det andra huvudtemat och innefattade tre underteman: vårdens uppbyggnad, samarbete och hemmet. Det tredje temat var Att närvara och innefattade två underteman: kommunikation samt stöd och relation. Slutsats: Kommunala hemsjukvårdssjuksköterskor har en betydande roll i integrering av ett palliativt förhållningssätt där kommunikationen utgör en viktig del. Det finns behov av kompetensutveckling och handledning inom palliativ vård för sjuksköterskor i kommunal hemsjukvård och behov av ett förbättrat samarbete mellan olika vårdgivare. / Background: A palliative approach is a requirement for being able to provide palliative care where there is a need and should facilitate the challenges that the people and their relatives confronts with serious illness. Nursing based on a palliative approach clarifies the patients need for actions that increases their quality of life and reduce suffering of seriously ill people. Nurses´ nursing competence is a significant part of palliative care. Chronical seriously ill people live longer today and receive care at home thru the community home healthcare nurses.  Aim: The aim was to describe the community home healthcare nurses´ experiences of integration of a palliative approach for people with serious chronic illness in their home. Method: A literature review in which 13 original articles were analyzed using a structured thematic analysis according to Bettany-Saltikov and McSherry (2016). Results: The results were compiled into three main themes with sub-themes. Leading was the first theme and included three sub-themes: responsibility, knowledge and stress. Environment was the second main theme and included three sub-themes: the structure of care, collaboration and the home. The third theme was Being present and included two sub-themes: communication and support and relationship.  Conclusion: Community nurses in home healthcare have a significant role in integrating a palliative approach where good communication is necessary. There is a need for competence development and supervision in palliative care for nurses in community home healthcare and a need for improved cooperation between different care providers.

Bakgrund: Ett palliativt förhållningssätt är en förutsättning för att kunna ge palliativ vård där behov finns och ska underlätta de utmaningar som personer och deras närstående möter i samband med allvarlig sjukdom. Att vårda utifrån ett palliativt förhållningssätt tydliggör patienternas behov av åtgärder som ger ökad livskvalitet och minskar lidandet för svårt sjuka personer. Sjuksköterskans omvårdnads kompetens utgör en betydande del i den palliativa vården. Många allvarligt kroniskt sjuka lever längre i dag och får vård i hemmet via kommunala hemsjukvårdssjuksköterskor. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva kommunala hemsjukvårdssjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att integrera ett palliativt förhållningssätt för personer med allvarlig kronisk sjukdom i hemmet. Metod: En litteraturöversikt där 13 originalartiklar analyserades med en strukturerad tematisk analys enligt Bettany-Saltikov och McSherry (2016). Resultat: Resultatet sammanställdes i tre huvudteman med totalt åtta underteman. Att leda var det första huvudtemat och innefattade tre underteman: ansvar, kunskap och påfrestningar. Miljö var det andra huvudtemat och innefattade tre underteman: vårdens uppbyggnad, samarbete och hemmet. Det tredje temat var Att närvara och innefattade två underteman: kommunikation samt stöd och relation. Slutsats: Kommunala hemsjukvårdssjuksköterskor har en betydande roll i integrering av ett palliativt förhållningssätt där kommunikationen utgör en viktig del. Det finns behov av kompetensutveckling och handledning inom palliativ vård för sjuksköterskor i kommunal hemsjukvård och behov av ett förbättrat samarbete mellan olika vårdgivare. / Background: A palliative approach is a requirement for being able to provide palliative care where there is a need and should facilitate the challenges that the people and their relatives confronts with serious illness. Nursing based on a palliative approach clarifies the patients need for actions that increases their quality of life and reduce suffering of seriously ill people. Nurses´ nursing competence is a significant part of palliative care. Chronical seriously ill people live longer today and receive care at home thru the community home healthcare nurses.  Aim: The aim was to describe the community home healthcare nurses´ experiences of integration of a palliative approach for people with serious chronic illness in their home. Method:A literature review in which 13 original articles were analyzed using a structured thematic analysis according to Bettany-Saltikov and McSherry (2016). Results: The results were compiled into three main themes with sub-themes. Leading was the first theme and included three sub-themes: responsibility, knowledge and stress. Environment was the second main theme and included three sub-themes: the structure of care, collaboration and the home. The third theme was Being present and included two sub-themes: communication and support and relationship.  Conclusion: Community nurses in home healthcare have a significant role in integrating a palliative approach where good communication is necessary. There is a need for competence development and supervision in palliative care for nurses in community home healthcare and a need for improved cooperation between different care providers.

Le diagnostic de sclérose en plaques (SEP) a d’importantes répercussions pour les personnes affectées en raison de son caractère incurable et dégénératif. Vu les pertes fonctionnelles, la SEP nécessite fréquemment une implication des professionnels des centres locaux de services communautaires. Depuis quelques années, l’approche palliative s’est développée afin de soutenir les professionnels dans leur accompagnement en regard de la fin de vie. Cependant, aucun écrit identifié ne fait le lien entre la SEP et l’approche palliative en milieu communautaire. Cette étude qualitative descriptive a pour but de connaître les perceptions de professionnels œuvrant au soutien à domicile à l’égard de l’introduction d’une approche palliative dans la trajectoire de soins des personnes vivant avec la SEP au stade avancé. Structurés par le modèle infirmier de gestion des maladies chroniques basé sur la théorie des trajectoires de Corbin et Strauss (1991), des groupes de discussions et des entretiens individuels ont été effectués avec des ergothérapeutes, des infirmières et des travailleurs sociaux. L’analyse des données s’appuie sur la méthode d’analyse par questionnement analytique de Paillé et Mucchielli (2012). En somme, cette analyse des données permet de décrire que les professionnels oeuvrant au soutien à domicile considèrent l’approche palliative comme 1) faire preuve de soutien, 2) ouvrir la discussion avec la personne soignée et sa famille sur ses besoins et désirs entourant sa fin de vie et 3) adapter ses interventions professionnelles aux besoins et aux objectifs de la personne et sa famille. Bien qu’ils considèrent obligatoire d’introduire l’approche palliative, ils ne se sentent pas à l’aise de l’initier systématiquement dans la prestation de leurs soins. Les professionnels rapportent aussi plusieurs difficultés à amorcer une discussion à ce sujet considérant les caractéristiques de la maladie, l’âge des personnes atteintes, l’absence de pronostic ou la crainte de perte d’espoir. Des recommandations pour la gestion, la pratique, la formation et la recherche en sciences infirmières ont été émises à la suite de cette étude. / The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) has important implications for people affected by its incurable and degenerative nature. MS, resulting in significant functional losses, often requires the involvement of professionals from local community service centres. In recent years, the palliative approach has been described for professionals in their end-of-life support. However, no identified literature links MS to the community-based palliative approach. This qualitative descriptive study has been designed to describe the perceptions of professionals working at home with regard to the introduction of palliative approach in the care trajectory of people living with advanced MS. Based on the nursing model for chronic disease management based upon the trajectory framework of Corbin and Strauss's (1991), focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with occupational therapists, nurses and social workers. The method of analysis by analytical questioning of Paillé and Mucchielli (2012) was used for data analysis. In summary, the data analysis has allowed us to describe the professionals' views of introducing a palliative approach into their care of people with MS as 1) being supportive, 2) opening the discussion with the person and his family about their needs and their desires at the end of life and 3) adapting professional interventions to people and families’ needs and objectives. However, professionals had several difficulties introducing these elements, considering the characteristics of the disease, the absence of prognosis and the risk of loosing hope. They described a duality in which they consider it mandatory to introduce the palliative approach, but do not feel comfortable integrating it systematically into the delivery of their care. Recommendations for nursing management, practice, education and research were issued as a result of this study.