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Challenges Experienced by Italian Nursing Home Staff in End-of-Life Conversations with Family Caregivers during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Descriptive Study
journal contribution
posted on 2022-01-01, 00:00 authored by S Gonella, P Di Giulio, A Antal, N Cornally, Peter MartinPeter Martin, S Campagna, V DimonteEnd-of-life conversations are among the most challenging of all communication scenarios and on the agenda of several healthcare settings, including nursing homes (NHs). They may be also difficult for experienced healthcare professionals (HCPs). This study explores the difficulties experienced by Italian NH staff in end-of-life conversations with family caregivers (FCs) during COVID-19 pandemic to uncover their educational needs. A qualitative descriptive study based on inductive thematic analysis was performed. Twenty-one HCPs across six Italian NHs were interviewed. Four themes described their experiences of end-of-life conversations: (1) communicating with FCs over the overall disease trajectory; (2) managing challenging emotions and situations; (3) establishing a partnership between HCPs and FCs; (4) addressing HCPs’ communication skills needs. HCPs had to face multiple challenging situations that varied across the care period as well as complex emotions such as anxiety, guilt, uncertainty, fear, anger, or suffering, which required tailored answers. COVID-19 pandemic increased FCs’ aggressive behaviors, their distrust, and uncertainty due to visitation restrictions. HCPs had to overcome this by developing a set of strategies, including adoption of an active-listening approach, supportive communication, and explicit acknowledgement of FCs’ emotions. Since communication needs were mostly practical in nature, HCPs valued practical communication training.
History
Journal
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public HealthVolume
19Issue
5Article number
2504Pagination
1 - 18Publisher
MDPILocation
Basel, SwitzerlandPublisher DOI
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ISSN
1661-7827eISSN
1660-4601Language
EnglishPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalUsage metrics
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No categories selectedKeywords
challengescommunicationCONCEPTUAL-MODELconversationCOVID-19DECISION-MAKINGDEMENTIAeducationend of lifeEnvironmental SciencesEnvironmental Sciences & Ecologyfamily caregiversGOALShealthcare professionalsINTERVIEWSLife Sciences & BiomedicineNEEDSnursing homesOLDER-PEOPLEPALLIATIVE CAREPERSPECTIVESPublic, Environmental & Occupational Healthqualitative researchScience & Technologytrainingeducation\/training
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