2018 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 14-22
Purpose: This study aimed to investigate current end-of-life care practice and clarify the change of behaviors and perceptions of working staff toward realization of end-of-life care through community-based services.
Method: A total of 15 staff members from 10 group homes for the elderly with dementia and small community-based multiservice agencies participated in a training program in 2016. The training program was based on a focus group discussion on end-of-life topics provided by experienced staff. Qualitative descriptive design was used, and data were collected by focus group discussion to compare them with the data obtained in our previous research in 2014.
Results: To realize end-of-life care through community-based services, staff engaged in building: a foundation for end-of-life care; collaboration system with doctors; night time end-of-life care system; additional fee system; emergency system; support system with community residents; and care system in accordance with corporate policy. Through the training, they showed a positive change in their perception and felt that they provided excellent and diverse end-of-life care compared to medical institutions and could explore new end-of-life care. They developed from their experience and improved their ability to responsibly provide end-of-life care.
Conclusion: From the training program provided, staff at community-based service facilities enhanced their knowledge and practice concerning end-of-life care and this resulted in positive perception of end-of-life care through community-based services. Because community-based services do not include medical care, the staff as caregivers did make a contribution to the end-of-life care practice.
