Author: Natalie Evans
Date: 13-10-2014
Promotor: Prof. dr. Bregje Onwuteaka-Philipsen and Prof. dr. Luc Deliens
Co-Promotor: Prof. dr. Roeline Pasman
SUMMARY OF THE DISSERTATION
Throughout Europe, researchers and practitioners increasingly recognise the ethical basis of including the patient in end-of-life medical treatment decisions and the benefits of good end-of-life communication on patient;centred outcomes. There remains however a paucity of European cross-country research on end-of-life communication practices. End-of-life communication is also complicated by the changing characteristics of the population reaching the end of life; the population in need of palliative care is increasingly old, frail and suffering from multiple morbidities. However, people with these characteristics are often neglected in research on end-of-life communication. This thesis addresses the lacunae in research on end-of-life communication in Europe in cross-country perspective and for older people. The thesis begins by introducing the topic of patient-physician communication at the end of life and the rationale for researching specific aspects of end-of-life communication. The research section is split into two parts: part one consists of comparative research on end;of;life communication in Europe; part two focuses exclusively on the situation in the Netherlands with a particular focus on older people.
