The Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care seeks to help transform end of life care across the country. A research team from The Open University set out to explore how people make sense of and use this document in their practice.
This free course, Supporting older people with learning disabilities and their families, stems from research that explored how to improve the care and support for older people with learning disabilities and behaviours that challenge others, and their families.
Check out the FREE content from Open Thanatology, The Open University’s interdisciplinary research group for the study and education of death, dying, loss and grief.
You or someone else you know may be experiencing grief as a widow or widower and finding a way to cope through loss. In this article, Hazel Carter, who cared for her husband through motor neurone disease to the end of his life, describes her experience of grief and becoming a widow and about her thought-provoking insight into her journey from care giver to a self-published author.
What is it like supporting someone who knows they have a life-limiting diagnosis? You might think it is depressing or incredibly difficult. While it can be hard, there is still scope for joy and love. In this article, Hazel Carter shares her experience of what it was like after her husband, Alan, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).
Death is part of life and is something we all need to face; not only our own death, but the deaths of those around us. Many of us are unprepared for this major event in our lives.
Have you ever considered how the location and spaces in end-of-life care impact on a carer’s experience? Let's look at how attention to detail can make a huge difference.
Death is part of life and is something we all need to face, not only our own death but the deaths of those around us. Yet many of us are unprepared for this major event in our lives.
For many, this question may at first seem like an odd one. It may be something you have never thought about – thinking about what the end of life may be like. For others, dying may not seem like something you can ‘plan for’, preferring to presume it is down to fate. And you might be wondering why question something you might have very little control over.
Advance Care Planning (ACP) is the process of thinking about, documenting and sharing one’s wishes, beliefs, values and preferences for one’s future care. This process is often captured in a document called an advance care plan. The plan and the conversations around it can be used to help align and coordinate care around these preferences. This means that the care people receive towards the end of their life is more likely to be the kind of care they want.
Ever heard of advance care planning? Setting out what you’d want to happen to you if you became too unwell to make your own decisions doesn’t have to be morbid but can be incredibly helpful and give you peace of mind. Find out more in this interactive video simulation…
The language we use to talk about end of life care matters because it conveys the values we attribute to life and death says lecturer at The Open University, Dr Erica Borgstrom.
Caring for adults is an introductory course for anyone in a caring role, either paid or unpaid. It builds on what you already know to give you a better understanding of your role as a carer. It also supports your own well-being by giving you some ideas and information about looking after yourself and dealing with stress.
This free course, Death and medicine: postponement and promise, helps you to explore the extent to which death and dying in western societies are medical events and what aspects of death and dying might be neglected as a consequence. The course covers the way that such things as medicine provide the context of the experiences associated with the end of life.
Imagine you’re a parent and your child is dying or has died in a hospital. How could the hospital and staff best support you? Drawing on the insights of parents, Walking the Walk has adapted to involve parents to better understand their experiences.
Patient preference in end-of-life conversations can depend on multiple factors; this article and animation offer guidance for health and social care professionals.