Enhancing Compassion in End-of-Life Care Through Drama


Book Description

'Healthcare professionals spend much of their time listening to stories of sickness related by patients and their families. It thus seems appropriate that drama, which is primarily concerned with exploring narratives, change and crises and relies, like the clinical situation, on communication, is an ideal medium for healthcare professionals to gain new insights into care.' From the Introduction Good communication forms the heart of patient-centred care and is the cornerstone of a trusting relationship. Enhancing Compassion in End-of-Life Care Through Drama explores a broad range of plays from Greek tragedy to the present day and investigates how particular theatrical dynamics help to understand complexities in the setting of end-of-life care. It examines fresh ways to interpret the action and subtext represented on the stage and finds symmetries in a clinical context. It is ideal for use in a range of educational contexts, with practical ideas for workshops and summaries of key concepts in each chapter. This book will motivate all members of the multidisciplinary palliative care team including palliative care professionals, doctors, nurses, psychologists, spiritual advisers and social workers. Although based in the setting of palliative care, the learning points are relevant to all areas of clinical practice.




Compassionate Communities


Book Description

Compassionate communities are communities that provide assistance for those in need of end of life care, separate from any official heath service provision that may already be available within the community. This idea was developed in 2005 in Allan Kellehear’s seminal volume- Compassionate Cities: Public Health and End of Life Care. In the ensuing ten years the theoretical aspects of the idea have been continually explored, primarily rehearsing academic concerns rather than practical ones. Compassionate Communities: Case Studies from Britain and Europe provides the first major volume describing and examining compassionate community experiments in end of life care from a highly practical perspective. Focusing on community development initiatives and practice challenges, the book offers practitioners and policy makers from the health and social care sectors practical discussions on the strengths and limitations of such initiatives. Furthermore, not limited to providing practice choices the book also offers an important and timely impetus for other practitioners and policy makers to begin thinking about developing their own possible compassionate communities. An essential read for academic, practitioner, and policy audiences in the fields of public health, community development, health social sciences, aged care, bereavement care, and hospice & palliative care, Compassionate Communities is one of only a handful of available books on end of life care that takes a strong health promotion and community development approach.







Palliative Care Within Mental Health


Book Description

This thought provoking and highly practical book is not just about caring for the dying within mental health, but also applying the quality care and practice of palliative care within mental health practice. Multidisciplinary in its approach, it focuses on intervention, treatment, care and practice, and the similarities in practice between palliative care and mental health. This common ground is an excellent foundation for integrating palliative care into mental health care, practice and service delivery, succinctly covering all aspects of psychological, physical, social, spiritual, sexual and emotional health. Featuring authoritative contributions from international experts, each chapter develops a theoretical framework before broadening its scope to include application in practice - addressing what, when, where and why with a definite focus on implementation in practice. Self-assessment exercises, advice for further reading, ideas for reflective practice and summaries of key points are also included, aiming above all else to improve the relationships, responses, care and practice necessary to be effective in interventions and treatment with those experiencing mental health concerns and dilemmas. Ideal for all health, social, psychological, legal and spiritual care students and professionals wanting sound theoretical and practical guidance, this book is highly recommended for General Practitioners and General Practice Registrars, healthcare assistants studying NVQ and health visitors. Educationalists, managers and service developers in health and social care will also appreciate its solution-focused, practical approach.




The Art and Science of Dance/Movement Therapy


Book Description

The Art and Science of Dance/Movement Therapy offers both a broad understanding and an in-depth view of how and where dance therapy can be used to produce change. The chapters go beyond the basics that characterize much of the literature on dance/movement therapy, and each of the topics covered offers a theoretical perspective followed by case studies that emphasize the techniques used in the varied settings. Several different theoretical points of view are presented in the chapters, illuminating the different paths through which dance can be approached in therapy.




Compassionate Cities


Book Description

Once it was difficult to see end of life care beyond conventional medical intervention, but hospice and palliative care introduced a more holistic approach, providing quality of life for the dying and their families. This ground-breaking work takes end-of-life care beyond these palliative boundaries, describing a public health vision that involves whole communities adopting a compassionate approach to dying, death and loss. Written by a leading academic in the field of death and bereavement, this text outlines the historical, political and conceptual basis of compassionate cities, providing a community development model for end-of-life care. Moving away from infection control and health promotion Allan Kellehear invites us to think of a third wave movement of public health, joining empathy, equality and action together as practical policies. Presenting a radical new perspective to death, ageing and public health, Compassionate Cities is essential reading for academics and professionals alike.




Approaching Death


Book Description

When the end of life makes its inevitable appearance, people should be able to expect reliable, humane, and effective caregiving. Yet too many dying people suffer unnecessarily. While an "overtreated" dying is feared, untreated pain or emotional abandonment are equally frightening. Approaching Death reflects a wide-ranging effort to understand what we know about care at the end of life, what we have yet to learn, and what we know but do not adequately apply. It seeks to build understanding of what constitutes good care for the dying and offers recommendations to decisionmakers that address specific barriers to achieving good care. This volume offers a profile of when, where, and how Americans die. It examines the dimensions of caring at the end of life: Determining diagnosis and prognosis and communicating these to patient and family. Establishing clinical and personal goals. Matching physical, psychological, spiritual, and practical care strategies to the patient's values and circumstances. Approaching Death considers the dying experience in hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings and the role of interdisciplinary teams and managed care. It offers perspectives on quality measurement and improvement, the role of practice guidelines, cost concerns, and legal issues such as assisted suicide. The book proposes how health professionals can become better prepared to care well for those who are dying and to understand that these are not patients for whom "nothing can be done."




The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science


Book Description

With contributions from well-established scholars as well as young rising stars in the field, this Handbook bridges a wide variety of diverse perspectives, research methodologies, and theory, and provides a foundation for this new and rapidly growing field.




Dying in America


Book Description

For patients and their loved ones, no care decisions are more profound than those made near the end of life. Unfortunately, the experience of dying in the United States is often characterized by fragmented care, inadequate treatment of distressing symptoms, frequent transitions among care settings, and enormous care responsibilities for families. According to this report, the current health care system of rendering more intensive services than are necessary and desired by patients, and the lack of coordination among programs increases risks to patients and creates avoidable burdens on them and their families. Dying in America is a study of the current state of health care for persons of all ages who are nearing the end of life. Death is not a strictly medical event. Ideally, health care for those nearing the end of life harmonizes with social, psychological, and spiritual support. All people with advanced illnesses who may be approaching the end of life are entitled to access to high-quality, compassionate, evidence-based care, consistent with their wishes. Dying in America evaluates strategies to integrate care into a person- and family-centered, team-based framework, and makes recommendations to create a system that coordinates care and supports and respects the choices of patients and their families. The findings and recommendations of this report will address the needs of patients and their families and assist policy makers, clinicians and their educational and credentialing bodies, leaders of health care delivery and financing organizations, researchers, public and private funders, religious and community leaders, advocates of better care, journalists, and the public to provide the best care possible for people nearing the end of life.




Theatre and Medicine


Book Description

Theatre and Medicine offers a tour of this interdisciplinary terrain. Organized into four distinct topics, each represents crucial ways of understanding the theatre-medicine relationship. From discussions on the somatic underpinnings of the body that medicine and theatre take as their subject through to the historical association of theatre and contagion, and the pervasive role of doctors and the practitioners of alternative medicine in Western theatre and role of patients on and off stage. Together, this brief study considers the institutional contexts of theatre's medical performances in the early twenty-first century.