Background: Palliative care is a type of care, which does not cure but eases the suffering caused by the disease. The goal of palliative care is not to extend or shorten the patient's life, but to relieve pain and distressing symptoms and to promote the patients’ quality of life (QOL). QOL can be understood as a subjective sense of happiness of existence, which means that the patient is experiencing life when her total life situation is consistent with her wishes. A central task of the nurse in palliative care is to create conditions for improved QOL for the patient. Aim: The aim of this literature review was to describe patients’ perceptions’ of quality of life in the final stages of life in palliative care. Methods: A literature review based on ten scientific articles was used. The qualitative analysis method was used to compile the results into various theme based on the literature reviews purpose. Results: Five different themes were identified; to preserve social relationships, support from health care, have physical and mental well being, maintain normality and have faith in God. These themes described patients' experiences of QOL in palliative care. Being surrounded by family and friends in the last days of life was revealed as significant conditions in an increased QOL. The nurse's sensitivity and good caring with the patient was described as important experience safety and care as meaningful in the end of life. Discussions: In discussion two themes were discussed: the preservation of social relationships and support from the health care, which were the most prominent of the patients as experiences of QOL. These two themes were tied to the 6 S:n model and discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:esh-3915 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Chegoonian, Elham, Jalaho, Shukri |
| Publisher | Ersta Sköndal högskola, Institutionen för vårdvetenskap, Ersta Sköndal högskola, Institutionen för vårdvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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