Research Article
Understanding the Needs and Perspectives of Patients with Incurable Pulmonary Disease at the End of Life and their Relatives: Protocol of a Qualitative Longitudinal Study
Gabriella Marx1*, Henrikje Stanze2, Friedemann Nauck1 and Nils Schneider2
1Clinic for Palliative Medicine, University Medical Center Goettingen, Germany
2Institute for General Practice, Primary Palliative Care Research Group, Hannover Medical School, Germany
- *Corresponding Author:
- Gabriella Marx
University Medical Center, Clinic for Palliative Medicine
Von-Siebold-Str. 3, 37075 Goettingen, Germany
Tel: +49 551 39170559
Fax: +49 551 39170560
E-mail: gabriella.marx@med.uni-goettingen.de
Received date: March 31, 2014; Accepted date: May 20, 2014; Published date: May 31, 2014
Citation: Marx G, Stanze H, Nauck F, Schneider N (2014) Understanding the Needs and Perspectives of Patients with Incurable Pulmonary Disease at the End of Life and their Relatives: Protocol of a Qualitative Longitudinal Study. J Palliat Care Med 4:177. doi:10.4172/2165-7386.1000177
Copyright: © 2014 Marx G, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Although patients with COPD sometimes have lesser physical, social, and emotional functioning than those with lung cancer, they rarely receive specialised palliative care support at the end of life. To date, specialised palliative care is not common for patients with non-malignant disease but should be adapted according to the patients’ special health-care-related needs with regard to specific illness trajectories. This longitudinal study aims to get a deep insight into the needs and perspectives of patients suffering from progressive lung diseases, i.e. lung cancer and COPD, over a period of time.
Methods: The design of this study is divided into three phases: (1) Qualitative prospective longitudinal study conducting four semi-structured repetitive interviews with a total of 40 patients over a period of 12 month. Data will be analysed content related as well as interpretative using Grounded Theory (2) Four group discussions with bereaved people whose relatives died from COPD or lung cancer. Data will be analysed using documentary method. (3) A oneday multidisciplinary workshop with representatives of different health related fields to derive implications for daily practice.
Discussion: By integrating different diseases, the study contributes to shift the focus of palliative care to patients with non-oncologic diseases. As this is the first German study on this issue, results will enrich the current international discussion with a German perspective.
