Search

Background: A culture of shared leadership is widespread among palliative care teams based on a commitment to valuing and including all people equally. As compassion is a core value for end‐of‐life care work, compassionate leadership may be the best way to lead in palliative care. Aims: The aims of this study were twofold: (1) to adapt and validate the Compassionate Leadership Self‐reported Scale in a sample of palliative care professionals; and (2) to study the relation between compassionate leadership and associated concepts of self‐compassion, awareness and self‐care. Methods: A cross‐sectional survey of 296 Spanish end‐of‐life care professionals was conducted. Analyses included descriptive statistics, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with four‐correlated factors, reliability estimates and a structural model. Results: Results suggested there were medium to high levels of compassionate leadership in the sample. The CFA showed an adequate overall fit: χ2(98) = 277.595 (p < 0.001); CFI = 0.986; SRMR = 0.047; RMSEA = 0.088 [0.076, 0.100]. Reliability estimates for four subscales of compassionate leadership (attending, understanding, empathising and helping) were also adequate, ranging from 0.72 to 0.96. Finally, the structural model predicting compassionate leadership suggested that the dimensions of attending and understanding were most highly related to positive self‐compassion and awareness; empathising, to self‐care and awareness; and helping, to positive self‐compassion and self‐care. Conclusion: The Compassionate Leadership Scale has adequate psychometric properties when used to assess compassionate leadership in the context of end‐of‐life care. Our results indicate that self‐compassion, awareness and self‐care are important correlates of such compassionate leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active ageing is associated with physical, social and mental wellbeing, as well as the participation and integration of older people in society. Currently, demographic changes represent a major challenge while reinforcing the need to improve our current understanding of active ageing and promote appropriate interventions suitable for older people. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the impact of the Healthy Ageing Supported by Internet and Community training programme for acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary for adopting a healthy lifestyle in community‐dwelling adults over 65 years of age. This study was conducted between 2015 and 2016 and was based on a convenience sample of individuals who responded to questionnaires. The study participants comprised all those who were included in the training programme (n = 71, 47 mentors and 24 participants in peer groups). The statistical analysis demonstrated the effectiveness of the programme regarding feasibility and expected results (p < 0.05 for most items, individually, as well as for the total scores of each test dimension). The programme was based on peer group training and the use of information and communication technologies and proved to be effective for acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary for adopting a healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, increased health scores were obtained in the physical, mental and social domains. It could also be beneficial for other groups of older people in order to support their integration into society, enhance their social skills and decrease any feelings of loneliness and rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recovery process of arthroplasty patients, their family members play an important role due to short hospital stay and increased age of patients. Family members need to have knowledge to be able to support the patient. The aim of this study was to explore expected and received knowledge in family members of arthroplasty patients and describe the relationships between the differences in received and expected knowledge and background factors, country, information and control preferences and access to knowledge. The study was conducted in six European countries (Cyprus, Greece, Finland, Iceland, Spain and Sweden). The study design was cross-cultural, prospective and comparative with two measurement points: pre-operative and at discharge from hospital. Knowledge Expectations of significant other-scale and Krantz Health Opinion Survey were used before surgery and Received Knowledge of significant other-scale and Access to Knowledge at discharge. Patients undergoing elective hip or knee arthroplasty in seventeen hospitals were asked to identify one family member. The sample size was decided by power calculation. A total of 615 participants answered the questionnaires at both measurements. Family members perceived to receive less knowledge than they expected to have, most unfulfilled knowledge expectations were in the financial, social and experiential dimensions of knowledge. Seventy-four per cent of participants had unfulfilled knowledge expectations. Increased access to information from healthcare providers decreased the difference between received and expected knowledge. Compared to family members in southern Europe, those in the Nordic countries had more unfulfilled knowledge expectations and less access to information from healthcare providers. The evidence from this study highlights the need to involve the family members in the educational approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]