The thesis deals with support for relatives in palliative care from the perspectives of both relatives and professionals. The aim of the research was to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences and needs of relatives and professional views on support at the end of life.
The theoretical part defines palliative care as a holistic approach that, in addition to medical treatment, includes psychosocial and spiritual support for the patient and their family. Special attention is paid to the role of social work in palliative care, the importance of informal caregivers, the needs of relatives, systemic challenges and the existential dimension of dying.
The empirical part is based on a qualitative study with a random sample, in which ten semi-structured interviews were conducted, five with relatives of people who have been involved in palliative care in the last six months, and five with professionals employed in the field of palliative care. The data were processed according to the principles of qualitative analysis with open and axial coding.
The results of the study show that relatives understand support primarily as concrete, practical help in everyday situations and emotional closeness, while professionals describe it more broadly as systematic and long-term monitoring of the entire family throughout the course of the illness. Despite this agreement in principle, there is a divergence in experiences: relatives often felt overlooked, left to their own devices and without a clear person or service to whom they could reliably turn. Among the most important forms of useful support, clear communication, concrete instructions, accessibility of professionals and informal support from loved ones stood out. However, uncoordinated help, administrative burden and the fact that professionals rarely offer help to relatives without the latter having to seek it out themselves were burdensome. Existential questions related to death, meaning and loss were present in all relatives, but often unspoken and, even after the patient's death, were not adequately processed with professional support. Social work was often not present at all in the experiences of relatives or was limited to administrative tasks, even though relatives described precisely those needs that are at the core of social work.
|
