Publications

OBJECTIVE: To explore advance care planning (ACP)-related knowledge, experience, views, facilitators and barriers among older Moroccan adults in Belgium.

METHOD: General practitioners (GPs) recruited participants for semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method.

RESULTS: The 25 interviewees (average age, 74 years) lacked ACP knowledge and had not discussed it with healthcare professionals. ...

BACKGROUND: Advance care planning (ACP) has been characterised as a complex process of communication and decision making. For ACP behaviour change, underlying processes such as self-efficacy and readiness are needed. However, studies about which patient characteristics are associated with ACP have mainly focused on whether ACP actions are completed, leaving behaviour change processes unexplored.

AIM: To assess whether patients' ...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to measure the appropriateness of end-of-life care for children who died with neurologic conditions.

STUDY DESIGN: Based on linked routinely collected databases, we conducted a population-level decedent retrospective cohort study of children with neurologic conditions who died in Belgium between 2010 and 2017. We measured a set of 22 face-validated quality indicators. The set concerns 12 ...

INTRODUCTION: Despite the relevance of advance care planning (ACP) for people with dementia, its uptake in this population is particularly low. Several challenges for ACP in dementia have been identified from physicians' perspectives. However, the literature available mainly includes general practitioners and focuses exclusively on the context of late-onset dementia. This is the first study to inquire physicians from four highly relevant ...

BACKGROUND: In most jurisdictions where assisted dying practices are legal, attending physicians must consult another practitioner to assess the patient's eligibility. Consequently, in some jurisdictions, they can rely on the expertise of trained assisted dying consultants (trained consultants). However, these peer consultations remain under-researched. We examined the characteristics and outcomes of peer consultations to assess an assisted ...

PURPOSE: Having advanced cancer presents many challenges for patients and family caregivers. The FOCUS program is a psychoeducational nurse-led intervention, developed in the USA, to support dyads of patients with cancer and their family caregivers to live with the illness. The program includes a conversation manual and information resources for dyads. We aimed to develop a version of the program for dyads facing advanced cancer in six ...

Compassionate Communities are places and environments in which people, networks and institutions actively work together and are empowered to improve the circumstances, health, and well-being of those facing serious illness, death, dying and loss. The study of their development, implementation and evaluation requires an interdisciplinary research approach that has hitherto been lacking. In 2020, eight research groups from four faculties at ...

BACKGROUND: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in almost all Latin American countries. Knowing where people with cancer die and understanding the factors that affect where they die are public health issues, relevant for the development of policies that ensure the provision of adequate end-of-life care in alignment with patients' needs and preferences. The objective of this study was to describe and compare the place of death of ...

As previous research has paid little attention to environmental factors affecting the practice of continuous deep sedation until death (CDS), we aimed to explore these using physicians' experiences and perceptions. We performed an interpretative thematic analysis of primary data from a qualitative interview study conducted from February to May 2019 in Belgium with 47 physicians. Structural factors were identified: the lack of professional ...