The need for renewal and support for those who care for seriously ill, dying, and bereaved people has been acknowledged from the very beginning of the hospice and palliative care movement. While often referring to the rewards and satisfactions of the work, Dame Cicely Saunders was the -first to acknowledge that helping encounters with dying patients and distressed relatives could be a source of anguish and grief for dedicated and compassionate carers. Caregiver Stress and Staff Support in Illness, Dying, and Bereavement discusses the challenge of finding a balance between the support needs of patients, families, and staff and the resources available. With contributions from practitioners and researchers from around the world, this book recognizes that palliative care today is being provided in many different settings and that there may be wide variations in the way individuals and organizations identify and manage the stressors that arise through the work. This unique collection of international perspectives on the complexities and management of caregiver stress and staff support builds on the firm foundation Mary Vachon built over thirty years ago in her studies, yet broadens the scope to include significant social, political, and cultural variations on the theme.

The need for renewal and support for those who care for seriously ill, dying, and bereaved people has been acknowledged from the very beginning of the hospice and palliative care movement. While often referring to the rewards and satisfactions of the work, Dame Cicely Saunders was the -first to acknowledge that helping encounters with dying patients and distressed relatives could be a source of anguish and grief for dedicated and compassionate carers. Caregiver Stress and Staff Support in Illness, Dying, and Bereavement discusses the challenge of finding a balance between the support needs of patients, families, and staff and the resources available. With contributions from practitioners and researchers from around the world, this book recognizes that palliative care today is being provided in many different settings and that there may be wide variations in the way individuals and organizations identify and manage the stressors that arise through the work. This unique collection of international perspectives on the complexities and management of caregiver stress and staff support builds on the firm foundation Mary Vachon built over thirty years ago in her studies, yet broadens the scope to include significant social, political, and cultural variations on the theme.

Family caregiving affects millions of Americans every day, in all walks of life. At least 17.7 million individuals in the United States are caregivers of an older adult with a health or functional limitation. The nation's family caregivers provide the lion's share of long-term care for our older adult population. They are also central to older adults' access to and receipt of health care and community-based social services. Yet the need to recognize and support caregivers is among the least appreciated challenges facing the aging U.S. population. Families Caring for an Aging America examines the prevalence and nature of family caregiving of older adults and the available evidence on the effectiveness of programs, supports, and other interventions designed to support family caregivers. This report also assesses and recommends policies to address the needs of family caregivers and to minimize the barriers that they encounter in trying to meet the needs of older adults.

"Nurses play a vital role in improving the safety and quality of patient car -- not only in the hospital or ambulatory treatment facility, but also of community-based care and the care performed by family members. Nurses need know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes. To address this need, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has prepared this comprehensive, 1,400-page, handbook for nurses on patient safety and quality -- Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (AHRQ Publication No. 08-0043)." - online AHRQ blurb, http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/

Delivers the collective wisdom of foremost scholars and practitioners in the death and dying movement from its inception to the present. Written by luminaries who have shaped the field, this capstone book distills the collective wisdom of foremost scholars and practitioners who together have nearly a millennium of experience in the death and dying movement. The book bears witness to the evolution of the movement and presents the insights of its pioneers, eyewitnesses, and major contributors past and present. Its chapters address contemporary intellectual, institutional, and practice developments in thanatology: hospice and palliative care; funeral practice; death education; and caring of the dying, suicidal, bereaved, and traumatized. With a breadth and depth found in no other text on death, dying, and bereavement, the book disseminates the thinking of prominent authors William Worden, David Clark, Tony Walter, Robert Neimeyer, Charles Corr, Phyllis Silverman, Betty Davies, Therese A. Rando, Colin Murray Parkes, Kenneth Doka, Allan Kellehear, Sandra Bertman, Stephen Connor, Linda Goldman, Mary Vachon, and others. Their chapters discuss the most significant facets of early development, review important current work, and assess major challenges and hopes for the future in the areas of their expertise. A substantial chronology of important milestones in the contemporary movement introduces the book, frames the chapters to follow, and provides guidance for further, in-depth reading. The book first focuses on the interdisciplinary intellectual achievements that have formed the foundation of the field of thanatology. The section on institutional innovations encompasses contributions in hospice and palliative care of the dying and their families; funeral service; and death education. The section on practices addresses approaches to counseling and providing support for individuals, families, and communities on issues related to dying, bereavement, suicide, trauma, disaster, and caregiving. An Afterword identifies challenges and looks toward future developments that promise to sustain, further enrich, and strengthen the movement. KEY FEATURES: Distills the wisdom of pioneers in and major contributors to the contemporary death, dying, and bereavement movement Includes living witness accounts of the movement's evolution and important milestones Presents the best contemporary thinking in thanatology Describes contemporary institutional developments in hospice and palliative care, funeral practice, and death education Illuminates best practices in care of the dying, suicidal, bereaved, and traumatized

The Handbook of Traumatic Loss adopts a broad, holistic approach that recognizes traumatic loss much more fully as a multidimensional human phenomenon, not simply a medical condition. Initial chapters build a foundation for understanding traumatic loss and explore the many ways we respond to trauma. Later chapters counterbalance the individualistic focus of dominant approaches to traumatic loss by highlighting a number of thought-provoking social dimensions of traumatic loss. Each chapter emphasizes different aspects of traumatic loss and argues for ways in which clinicians can help deal with its many and varied impacts.

Social Work in Health Settings: Practice in Context maintains its use of the Practice in Context (PiC) decision-making framework to explore a wide range of social work services in health care settings. The PIC framework is used to cover a broad range of social work practice sites, settings and populations over 30 case chapters. Fully updated to reflect the landscape of health care provision in the US since the Affordable Care Act was passed, the cases are grounded by ‘primer’ chapters to illustrate the necessary decisional and foundational skills for best practices in social work in health settings. The cases cover working with both individuals and groups of clients across the life course and the PiC framework helps maintain focus on each of the practice decisions a social worker must make when working with a variety of clients from military veterans to HIV positive children. The ideal textbook for social work in health care and clinical social work classes, this thought-provoking volume thoroughly integrates social work theory and practice, and provides an excellent opportunity for understanding particular techniques and interventions.

The Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief is a scholarly work of social criticism, richly grounded in personal experience, evocative case studies, and current multicultural and sociocultural theories and research. It is also consistently practical and reflective, challenging readers to think through responses to ethically complex scenarios in which social justice is undermined by radically uneven opportunity structures, hierarchies of voice and privilege, personal and professional power, and unconscious assumptions, at the very junctures when people are most vulnerable—at points of serious illness, confrontation with end-of-life decision making, and in the throes of grief and bereavement. Harris and Bordere give the reader an active and engaged take on the field, enticing readers to interrogate their own assumptions and practices while increasing, chapter after chapter, their cultural literacy regarding important groups and contexts. The Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief deeply and uniquely addresses a hot topic in the helping professions and social sciences and does so with uncommon readability.

The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing is the definitive text on nursing care of the seriously ill and dying. It is a comprehensive work addressing all aspects of palliative care including physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs. The text is written by leaders in the field and includes an impressive section on international palliative care. Each chapter includes case examples and a strong evidence base to support the highest quality of care. The book is rich with tables and figures offering practical resources for clinical practice across all settings of care and encompassing all ages from pediatrics to geriatrics.

Despite the scope and sophistication of contemporary health care, there is increasing international concern about the perceived lack of compassion in its delivery. Citing evidence that when the basic needs of patients are attended to with kindness and understanding, recovery often takes place at a faster level, patients cope more effectively with the self-management of chronic disorders and can more easily overcome anxiety associated with various disorders, this book looks at how good care can be put back into the process of caring. Beginning with an introduction to the historical values associated with the concept of compassion, the text goes on to provide a bio-psycho-social theoretical framework within which the concept might be further explained. The third part presents thought-provoking case studies and explores the implementation and impact of compassion in a range of healthcare settings. The fourth part investigates the role that organizations and their structures can play in promoting or hindering the provision of compassion. The book concludes by discussing how compassion may be taught and evaluated, and suggesting ways for increasing the attention paid to compassion in health care. Developing a multi-disciplinary theory of compassionate care, and underpinned by empirical examples of good practice, this volume is a valuable resource for all those interesting in understanding and supporting compassion in health care, including advanced students, academics and practitioners within medicine, nursing, psychology, allied health, sociology and philosophy.