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BACKGROUND: Most people living with a terminal illness and approaching death will need the assistance of a non-professional carer such as a family member, friend, or neighbour to provide physical, emotional, and practical caring supports. A significant portion of these carers can feel overwhelmed, isolated and experience psychological and/or financial distress. Carers can have unmet information needs and information needs can change across the caring period. METHODS: Guided by an Australian National Reference Group, this project undertook a multiphase set of activities to enable the development of an online carer resource. These activities included a literature review of key issues and considerations for family carers supporting someone with a terminal illness, a scoping scan of existing online resources, and interviews and focus groups with eighteen carers to understand their needs and context of caring. This information formed the basis for potential digital content. A web project team was established to create the information architecture and content pathways. User testing survey and usability assessment of the CarerHelp Website was undertaken to assess/optimise functionality prior to release. An evaluation process was also devised. RESULTS: The literature review identified carer needs for practical and psychological support along with better education and strategies to improve communication. The scoping scan of available online resources suggested that while information available to carers is plentiful, much of that which is provided is general, disparately located, inadequately detailed, and disease specific. The eighteen carers who were interviewed highlighted the need for helpful information on: services, symptom management, relationships, preparation for death, managing the emotional and psychological burden that often accompanies caring, and support during bereavement. User testing and usability assessment of the prototype resource led to changes to enhance

BACKGROUND: Australian COVID-19 public health measures reduced opportunities for people to communicate with healthcare professionals and be present at the death of family members/friends. AIM: To understand if pandemic-specific challenges and public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted end-of-life and bereavement experiences differently if the death, supported by palliative care, occurred in a hospital or at home. DESIGN: A cross-sectional online survey was completed by bereaved adults during 2020-2022. Analyses compared home and in-patient palliative care deaths and bereavement outcomes. Additional analyses compared health communication outcomes for those identified as persons responsible or next of kin. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Of 744 bereaved people; 69% (n = 514) had a death in hospital and 31% (n = 220) at home. RESULTS: The COVID-19 public health measures influenced people's decision to die at home. Compared to hospital deaths, the home death group had higher levels of grief severity and grief-related functional impairment. Only 37% of bereaved people received information about bereavement and support services. 38% of participants who were at least 12 months postdeath scored at a level suggestive of possible prolonged grief disorder. Levels of depression and anxiety between the two groups were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the need for health services to recognize bereavement as fundamental to palliative and health care and provide pre- and post death grief and bereavement care to ensure supports are available particularly for those managing end-of-life at home, and that such supports are in place prior to as well as at the time of the death.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many areas of life, including culturally accepted practices at end-of-life care, funeral rites, and access to social, community, and professional support. This survey investigated the mental health outcomes of Australians bereaved during this time to determine how these factors might have impacted bereavement outcomes. METHODS: An online survey indexing pandemic and bereavement experiences, levels of grief, depression, anxiety, and health, work, and social impairment. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify groups of individuals who shared similar symptom patterns. Multinomial regressions identified pandemic-related, loss-related, and sociodemographic correlates of class membership. RESULTS: 1911 Australian adults completed the survey. The LCA identified four classes: low symptoms (46.8%), grief (17.3%), depression/anxiety (17.7%), and grief/depression/anxiety (18.2%). The latter group reported the highest levels of health, work, and social impairment. The death of a child or partner and an inability to care for the deceased due to COVID-19 public health measures were correlated with grief symptoms (with or without depression and anxiety). Preparedness for the person's death and levels of pandemic-related loneliness and social isolation differentiated all four classes. Unemployment was associated with depression/anxiety (with or without grief). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 had profound impacts for the way we lived and died, with effects that are likely to ricochet through society into the foreseeable future. These lessons learned must inform policymakers and healthcare professionals to improve bereavement care and ensure preparedness during and following future predicted pandemics to prevent negative impacts.

BACKGROUND: Most Australians say they wish to die at home, but many are admitted to inpatient facilities for symptom management. Caring@home resources can be used to support informal carers to manage breakthrough symptoms safely using subcutaneous medicines. Nurses require education about how to teach informal carers to use these resources. AIM: To evaluate the effectiveness and relevance of an online education programme for registered nurses (RNs) about using the caring@home resources. METHODS: Nurses must complete an online survey prior to the commencement of the online education programme and again upon completion to assess their change in skills, knowledge, confidence and attitudes of the RNs. T-tests were conducted to compare average pre- and post-education scores. FINDINGS: The knowledge, skills and confidence of RNs to teach carers improved significantly following the completion of an education programme. There was a significant change in attitude, meaning that the perceived benefit of teaching informal carers to give subcutaneous medicines improved. All reported they would use the resources in their clinical practice. CONCLUSION: The online education programme is an effective and cost-efficient strategy to educate nurses to support informal carers to help manage breakthrough symptoms using subcutaneous medicines.

Primary care settings are ideal for initiating advance care planning (ACP) conversations and assessing palliative and supportive care needs. However, time constraints and a lack of confidence to sensitively and efficiently initiate such discussions are noted barriers. The Advance Project implemented a national multicomponent training package to support Australian general practice nurses (GPNs) to work with GPs to initiate ACP and palliative care conversations in their practice. This paper reports on semistructured interviews conducted with 20 GPNs to explore barriers and facilitators to implementing the Advance Project model. Participants identified a range of factors that affected implementation, including lack of time, limited support from colleagues, lack of knowledge about systems and funding processes in general practice and a need for better alignment of the Advance Project resources and practices with general practice information management platforms. Barriers related to professional roles, particularly the lack of clarity and/or limitations in the scope of practice of GPNs, highlighted the importance of defining and supporting the roles that different primary health practice staff could play to support implementation of the model. The findings underline the need for complementary training in the Advance Project model for GPs and practice managers to enable a team-based approach to implementation.

ObjectivesMost people say if they had a terminal illness, they would prefer to be cared for at home and, if possible, to die there. Often this is not possible without a carer to assist with on-going practical care and symptom management. If breakthrough symptoms are not treated in a timely manner, symptoms can escalate quickly causing increased suffering resulting in unwanted hospital transfers. Many carers report feeling motivated but uneducated for the task of medicine management, especially if it involves preparation and/or administration of subcutaneous medicines This study assesses the impact of an education and resource package, caring@home, on carers’ confidence, knowledge, and skills in managing palliative symptoms at home using subcutaneous medicines.MethodsNurses trained volunteer carers on the use of the package. Carers were invited to complete a 10 min written evaluation survey and to consider consenting to a 30 min semistructure phone interview.ResultsFifty carers returned surveys and 12 were interviewed. Most carers agreed or strongly agreed that the package provided them with the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence to safely and confidently manage breakthrough symptoms using subcutaneous medicines, further, they would recommend the package to others. Interview analysis revealed three main themes: (1) hesitation and motivation to adopt expanded carer role; (2) the importance of a layered approach to support; and (3) avoiding perceived unnecessary contact with nurses.ConclusionThe programme can be used by clinical services to empower carers to help enable a person to be cared for, and to die at home.

BACKGROUND: Family carers are vital in the management and delivery of home-based palliative care. Decision-makers need to know what the most commonly expressed unmet needs of family carers are to target available support services. AIM: To identify the most commonly expressed needs of family carers of people with an advanced disease, assess the quality of current evidence, and set an agenda for future research and clinical practice. DESIGN: A systematic review of reviews, prospectively registered on PROSPERO. Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for systematic reviews and research syntheses. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Informit and Cochrane Library were searched for reviews about the needs of carers looking after patients with advanced disease from 2010 to 2020. RESULTS: Findings from 21 reviews identified emotional support, disease-specific knowledge, carer role responsibilities, self-care and general practical support as the most commonly expressed needs expressed by family carers. Additionally, access to professional services, formal education opportunities and communication with health professionals were identified as caregivers' preferred ways of having these needs met. Extraction of carer-specific needs was challenging at times as results were often combined with patient results in reviews. CONCLUSION: Practical difficulties exist in effectively resourcing services to meet the needs of family carers. Information regarding the most commonly expressed needs shared by caregivers and their preferred delivery source can provide an opportunity to focus available support services to achieve the highest possible impact for carers of patients with advanced disease. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018088678.

Carers of people with a life-limiting illness report unmet information, practical, and emotional support needs, and are often unaware of services available to help improve preparedness, wellbeing, and reduce strain. CarerHelp is the first e-health toolkit that focuses on the information and support needs of carers of people with a life-limiting illness at the end-of-life, using a pathway approach. This study investigated the usefulness of CarerHelp, from the perspective of health professionals who care for these people. Through a 10-min online survey, health professionals provided feedback about their user experience and perceived usefulness of the website. Their expert opinion was sought to ascertain whether CarerHelp could increase carers' preparedness and confidence to support the person for whom they are caring and thereby improve carers' own psychological wellbeing. Health professionals also evaluated whether CarerHelp adequately raised awareness of support services available. CarerHelp was perceived as a useful resource for increasing preparedness for the caring role, including physical tasks and emotional support. Health professionals reported that CarerHelp would increase carers' knowledge of services, confidence to care and ability for self-care. Health professionals endorsed CarerHelp as a useful information source, guide for support, and would promote CarerHelp to clients and their families.

Understanding public attitudes towards death is needed to inform health policies to foster community death awareness and preparedness. Linguistic sentiment analysis of how people describe their feelings about death can add to knowledge gained from traditional self-reports. This study provided the first description of emotive attitudes expressed towards death utilising textual sentiment analysis for the dimensions of valence, arousal and dominance. A linguistic lexicon of sentiment norms was applied to activities conducted in an online course for the general-public designed to generate discussion about death. We analysed the sentiment of words people chose to describe feelings about death, for themselves, for perceptions of the feelings of ‘others’, and for longitudinal changes over the time-period of exposure to a course about death (n = 1491). The results demonstrated that sadness pervades affective responses to death, and that inevitability, peace, and fear were also frequent reactions. However, words chosen to represent perceptions of others’ feelings towards death suggested that participants perceived others as feeling more negative about death than they do themselves. Analysis of valence, arousal and dominance dimensions of sentiment pre-to-post course participation demonstrated that participants chose significantly happier (more positive) valence words, less arousing (calmer) words, and more dominant (in-control) words to express their feelings about death by the course end. This suggests that the course may have been helpful in participants becoming more emotionally accepting in their feelings and attitude towards death. Furthermore, the change over time appeared greater for younger participants, who showed more increase in the dominance (power/control) and pleasantness (valence) in words chosen at course completion. Sentiment analysis of words to describe death usefully extended our understanding of community death attitudes and emotions. Future application

© Annals of Palliative Medicine. Background: Complex social and ethical debates about voluntary assisted dying (euthanasia), palliative care, and advance care planning are presently being worked through in many developed countries, and the policy implications of these discussions for palliative care are potentially very significant. However, community attitudes to death and dying are complex, multilayered, and contain many mixed messages. Methods: Participants posted comments in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on death and dying, entitled Dying2Learn. This provided an opportunity to explore societal and personal attitudes to wishes and beliefs around death and dying. For one activity in the MOOC, participants responded to a question asking them about “the best way to go”. Results: Responses were subjected to thematic analysis, during which they were coded for conceptual categories. This analysis showed how acceptance of death as a natural and normal process, and as a shared event that affects a whole social network, may nonetheless be accompanied by deep reluctance to address the physical process of dying (i.e., “avoidant acceptance”). Conclusions: Our findings highlighted a desire for choice and control in relation to dying, which is a common element in discussions of both advance care planning and palliative care. This same focus may contribute to a perception that voluntary assisted dying/euthanasia is a necessary strategy for ensuring that people have control over their dying process. We discuss the paradox of individuals wanting to have control whilst preferring not to know that they are dying.

Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019. Objective Understanding factors that are associated with more adaptive death attitudes and competencies can inspire future health-promoting palliative care strategies and inform approaches to training and development for health professionals. The potential importance of meaning, purpose, quality, and values in life for promoting adaptive death attitudes has been highlighted, but there is limited research in this area, particularly in relation to death competence. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to develop an understanding of demographic and life-related factors associated with perceived death competence, such as meaning in life and quality of life.Method During the course enrollment period of a Massive-Online-Open-Course about death and dying, 277 participants completed questionnaires on death competence, meaning in life, quality of life, and sociodemographic background.Result Findings indicated that greater presence of meaning in life, quality of life, age, death experience, and carer experience were each statistically significant unique predictors of death competence scores. Life-related variables were more strongly associated with death competence than demographic variables. Bereavement experience and experience caring for the dying was associated with greater death competence, but there were no differences on death competence between health professionals and the general community. Above all other factors, the presence of meaning in life was the strongest predictor of higher perceived competence in coping with death.Significance of results The findings demonstrate important interconnections between our attitudes about life and death. Knowledge of factors associated with poorer death competence may help identify those at risk of greater distress when facing death, and might prove useful additions to bereavement risk assessments. Understanding factors associated with greater death competence in health profe

© 2018, The Author(s) 2018. A Massive Open Online Course, Dying2Learn, was designed to foster community death conversations and strengthen community awareness of palliative care and death as a normal process. This exploratory study used a pre–post prospective design to determine if participation in Dying2Learn and exposure to online conversations about death and dying resulted in any significant influence on death competence in 134 participants who completed the Coping-with-Death-Scale both at the beginning and end of the course in 2016. Death competence refers to a range of attitudes and capabilities people have for dealing with death. Results at the end of the course indicated that engagement in Dying2Learn led to significant improvements in death competence scores over time (medium-to-large effect size). The positive impact was greater for those who completed more of the course, and effectiveness did not depend on sociodemographic characteristics. In conclusion, this study found that an online learning platform in the form of a Massive Open Online Course could engage community members in meaningful social discussion about death and dying, and that exposure to these conversations was beneficial for all participants regardless of previous exposure to death. Further exploration is required to determine whether this change in death competence will have an impact on participant’s behavior in the community regarding death conversations and preparedness.

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Advances in medicine have helped many to live longer lives and to be able to meet health challenges. However death rates are anticipated to increase given the ageing population and chronic disease progression. Being able to talk about death is seen to be important in normalising death as part of life and supporting preparedness for death. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provide opportunities for the community to engage in collaborative learning. A 5 week MOOC was developed covering four main topics (language and humour, representations of death, medicalisation of dying, and digital dying) aiming: To enable participants to openly and supportively discuss and learn about issues around living, death and dying, To explore the normally unheard opinions and views of Australians around death and dying, and To determine what effect online learning and discussions offered through the MOOC had on participants' feelings and attitudes towards death and dying. Methods: Data was captured on engagement rates in the various MOOC activities. Death Attitudes were measured by five items representing the MOOC's learning objectives and completed at enrolment and conclusion. MOOC Satisfaction was measured with six items at the end of the MOOC. Descriptive statistics were produced for each variable and Chi-Square Tests of Independence assessed the extent of the relationship between categorical variables. Socio-demographic variables were examined as predictors of the outcome variables of MOOC engagement, MOOC satisfaction, and death attitudes. Ethical approval was received from Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee (Project No. 7247). Results: One thousand one hundred fifty six people enrolled in the Dying2Learn MOOC with 895 participating in some way. Enrolees were primarily female (92.1%). Age ranged from 16 to 84 (mean = 49.5, SD = 12.3). MOOC satisfaction scores were high. Responses to the experience of participating

(1) Background: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are becoming more commonplace in the delivery of free online education and a Dying2Learn MOOC was offered by a team at Palliative and Supportive Services, Flinders University, South Australia; (2) Methods: Working with the OpenLearning platform developer, a research study and MOOC evaluation were embedded in the course, and content was delivered in innovative ways without compromising pedagogical approaches; (3) Results: This MOOC provided the facilitators with the opportunity to view education as an intervention, with testing undertaken, including measuring attitudinal change. Research, clinical and community partnerships were developed or reaffirmed and the value of ongoing partnerships with developers in creating platforms and tools that can expand the options for online learning is highlighted. Opportunities for future health professional and consumer education were also explored; (4) Conclusion: MOOCs can provide innovative opportunities to redesign educational approaches, which can be achieved by working with new technologies and with platform developers, while still adhering to pedagogical principles.

© 2015 MA Healthcare Ltd. Background: Southern Adelaide Palliative Care Services introduced a nurse-led early introduction to a palliative care clinic in 2011. The clinic offers a thorough psychosocial assessment and the provision of information and an introduction to future care planning. The patients and their caregivers are seen together by the nurse practitioner initially for a physical assessment. They are then seen by a social worker to focus on advanced care planning and assessment of social and emotional factors. After the social work visit, the patient and caregiver are separated, and the patient sees the psychosocial nurse for coping and adjustment to illness and the carer sees the caregiver network facilitator to assess their informal supports to assist in the role of community-based caregiving. The pilot study looks at the nature of communication in the clinic where patient and carer are together and compares that to when they are separated. Methods: A total of 33 patients and their caregivers agreed for their coversations to be tape recorded between May and November of 2013. All tape recordings were transcribed verbatim. Ten patient transcripts (n=40) have been coded for quantitative analysis. The codes identify content and function of speech, cues for information and emotion and whether they are responded to by clinicians. Results: Pilot results reveal that caregivers contribute little in the combined clinics and dominate the conversation in the private clinic. Patients, when seen alone, predominantly express emotion related cues, opposed to cues for information. The clinicians focus on their area of specialty, which results in little duplication in this clinic setting. Conclusion: An earlier evaluation of this clinic found that patients and their caregivers appreciate being separated in the clinic setting to have time and privacy to reveal fears and feelings related to end-of-life care. This current study quantifies the patient and caregiver experienc

© 2015 National Rural Health Alliance Inc. Objective: To examine and compare urban and rural palliative care service availability and patterns of care from randomised, population-based surveys of caregivers of people at the end of life. Design, Setting & Participants: Survey responses on the death of 'someone close' from 23,588 interviews of South Australians conducted between 2001 and 2007 are analysed. Interventions: A randomised population survey. Main Outcome Measures: Explored palliative care service availability, caregiving provided, and characteristics of the deceased and their caregivers. Results: There was no difference in reported rates of accessing specialist palliative care services between rural and urban respondents (in unadjusted and adjusted analyses) nor did the proportion of people for whom cancer was their life-limiting illness. There was greater reliance on friends than first degree relatives in hands-on care provided at the end of life in rural settings. The rates of reported need for more support did not differ between urban and rural respondents for caregivers of people at the end of life. Conclusion: Use of palliative care services was similar for rural and urban caregivers for someone close at the end of life with similar levels of met and unmet needs.

© 2015 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Context The challenges of palliative care clinical trial recruitment are well documented. Objectives The aim of the study was to review tested strategies to improve recruitment to trials of people with a range of conditions who may access palliative care services but are not explicitly stated to be "palliative." Methods This was a systematic review with narrative description. The Cochrane, Embase, PubMed, PsycINFO, and CINAHL electronic databases were searched (English; January 2002 to February 2014) for quasi-experimental and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing the effect of recruitment strategies on accrual to clinical trials of people with organ failure and cancer. Titles, s, and retrieved articles were screened by two researchers and categorized by recruitment challenge: 1) patients with reduced cognition, 2) those requiring emergency treatment, and 3) willingness of patients and clinical staff to contribute to trials. Results Of 549 articles identified, 15 were included. Thirteen reported RCTs and two papers reported three quasi-experimental studies. Five were cluster RCTs of recruiting sites/institutions. One was a randomized cluster, crossover, feasibility study. Seven studies recruited patients with cancer. Others included patients with dementia, stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, frail elderly, and bereaved carers. Some interventions improved recruitment: memory aid, contact before arrival, cluster consent, "opt out" consent. Others either reduced recruitment (formal mental capacity assessment) or made no difference (advance research directive; a variety of educational, supportive, and advertising interventions). Conclusion Successful strategies from other disciplines could be considered by palliative care researchers. Tailored, efficient, evidence-based strategies must be developed, acknowledging that strategies with face validity are not necessarily the most effective.

Aim: This study aimed to obtain perspectives from key stakeholders to inform the development of Australian national guidelines for a palliative approach to aged care in the community setting. Methods: A descriptive, exploratory qualitative design was used. Sampling was purposive. Data were collected during audiotaped, semistructured, individual and focus group interviews that addressed the need for the guidelines and aimed to identify practice areas for inclusion. Thematic analysis was undertaken. Results: Interviews were conducted across Australia and included 172 participants: health-care providers, consumers, volunteers and researchers/educators. Themes emerging from the data were: Provision of a Palliative Approach in Community Aged Care, Carer Support, Advance Care Planning, Physical and Psychological Symptom Assessment and Management, Psychosocial Support, Spiritual Support, Issues for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People, Older People from Diverse Cultural and Language Groups, and Clients with Special Needs. Conclusion: Findings underpinned development of new guideline documents.

© 2014 MA Healthcare Ltd. Background: As differing patient and carer information needs have been reported, and in light of changing health-system priorities and issues identified in a self-assessment study, a specialist palliative care service established an interdisciplinary psychosocial assessment clinic to separately assess patient and carer needs. Aim: To determine the acceptability of the separate assessment to patients and carers. Method: Patients with a high functional score and who were deemed well enough to manage an appointment were invited to attend the clinic. Consent to follow-up was obtained. Patient and carer satisfaction surveys were developed based on existing tools. Questionnaires were posted out with a pre-paid reply envelope to patients and carers. Data from completed surveys was entered into a data management system and frequency analysis completed. A secondary analysis of the comments was undertaken. Findings: The clinic was attended by 41 patients and 37 carers between September 2011 and the end of February 2012. There was a 46% response rate, with 24 questionnaires returned from both the patient and their carer, 6 from patients only, and 6 from carers only (2 of whom were bereaved). The opportunity for privacy to discuss their own fears and concerns related to the illness was appreciated by 94% of the patients and 83% of the carers. Conclusion: This initial pilot data shows patient and carer satisfaction with this clinic model. Further qualitative data would provide more information on the patient and carer experiences of the clinic.

Background Recent clinical practice guidelines have highlighted the importance of advance care planning (ACP) for improving end-of-life care for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Study Design We conducted a systematic integrative review of the literature to inform future ACP practice and research in CKD, searching electronic databases in April 2013. Synthesis used narrative methods. Setting & Population We focused on adults with a primary diagnosis of CKD in any setting. Selection Criteria for Studies We included studies of any design, quantitative or qualitative. Interventions ACP was defined as any formal means taken to ensure that health professionals and family members are aware of patients' wishes for care in the event they become too unwell to speak for themselves. Outcomes Measures of all kinds were considered of interest. Results 55 articles met criteria reporting on 51 discrete samples. All patient samples included people with CKD stage 5; 2 also included patients with stage 4. Seven interventions were tested; all were narrowly focused and none was evaluated by comparing wishes for end-of-life care with care received. One intervention demonstrated effects on patient and family outcomes in the form of improved well-being and anxiety following sessions with a peer mentor. Insights from qualitative studies that have not been used to inform interventions include the importance of instilling patient confidence that their advance directives will be enacted and discussing decisions about (dis)continuing dialysis therapy separately from "aggressive" life-sustaining treatments (eg, ventilation). Limitations Although quantitative and qualitative findings were integrated according to best practice, methods for this are in their infancy. Conclusions Research on ACP in patients with CKD is limited, especially intervention studies. Interventions in CKD should attend to barriers and facilitators at the levels of patient, caregiver, health professional, and system.

In Australia, many people ageing in their own homes are becoming increasingly frail and unwell, approaching the end of life. A palliative approach, which adheres to palliative care principles, is often appropriate. These principles provide a framework for proactive and holistic care in which quality of life and of dying is prioritised, as is support for families. A palliative approach can be delivered by the general practitioner working with the community aged care team, in collaboration with family carers. Support from specialist palliative care services is available if necessary. The Guidelines for a Palliative Approach for Aged Care in the Community Setting were published by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to inform practice in this area. There are three resource documents. The main document provides practical evidence based guidelines, good practice points, tools, and links to resources. This document is written for general practitioners, nurses, social workers, therapists, pastoral care workers, and other health professionals and responded to needs identified during national consultation. Evidence based guidelines were underpinned by systematic reviews of the research literature. Good practice points were developed from literature reviews and expert opinion. Two 'plain English' booklets were developed in a process involving consumer consultation; one is for older people and their families, the other for care workers. The resources are intended to facilitate home care that acknowledges and plans for the client's deteriorating functional trajectory and inevitable death. At a time when hospitals and residential aged care facilities are under enormous pressure as the population ages, such a planned approach makes sense for the health system as a whole. The approach also makes sense for older people who wish to die in their own homes. Family needs are recognised and addressed. Unnecessary hospitalisations or residential placements and clini

In Australia, many people ageing in their own homes are becoming increasingly frail and unwell, approaching the end of life. A palliative approach, which adheres to palliative care principles, is often appropriate. These principles provide a framework for proactive and holistic care in which quality of life and of dying is prioritised, as is support for families.

A palliative approach promotes quality of life for older people with life limiting illnesses or who are becoming increasingly frail; it is a holistic approach addressing physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs and can be provided by the usual care team. This project provided guidance for delivering a palliative approach for older people in the community setting. The project was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

Background: Heart failure is a highly debilitating syndrome with a poor prognosis primarily affecting the elderly. Clinicians wanting timely access to heart failure evidence to provide optimal patient care can face many challenges in locating this evidence. This study developed and validated a search filter of high clinical utility for the retrieval of heart failure articles in OvidSP Medline. Methods. A Clinical Advisory Group was established to advise study investigators. The study set of 876 relevant articles from four heart failure clinical practice guidelines was divided into three datasets: a Term Identification Set, a Filter Development Set, and a Filter Validation Set. A further validation set (the Cochrane Validation Set) was formed using studies included in Cochrane heart failure systematic reviews. Candidate search terms were identified via word frequency analysis. The filter was developed by creating combinations of terms and recording their performance in retrieving items from the Filter Development Set. The filter's recall was then validated in both the Filter Validation Set and the Cochrane Validation Set. A precision estimate was obtained post-hoc by running the filter in Medline and screening the first 200 retrievals for relevance to heart failure. Results: The four-term filter achieved a recall of 96.9% in the Filter Development Set; 98.2% in the Filter Validation Set; and 97.8% in the Cochrane Validation Set. Of the first 200 references retrieved by the filter when run in Medline, 150 were deemed relevant and 50 irrelevant. The post-hoc precision estimate was therefore 75%. Conclusions: This study describes an objective method for developing a validated heart failure filter of high recall performance and then testing its precision post-hoc. Clinical practice guidelines were found to be a feasible alternative to hand searching in creating a gold standard for filter development. Guidelines may be especially appropriate given their clinical utility.