"Who would want to die like that?" Perspectives on dying alone in a long-term care setting.

The discourse of dying alone is negatively weighted and models of a good death identify not dying alone as a key outcome. Understanding why dying alone is viewed negatively and its effects on care is a priority. In separate focus groups with long-term care residents, family caregivers, and staff, we identified evidence for four different perspectives on the importance of presence at the time of death. However, while each individual had their own unique perspective on dying alone, the predominant view expressed across respondent groups was that having human connection near the end of one's life was important.

Meanings of 'centredness' in long-term care facilities: a scoping review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: There is a growing demand for long-term care services for older adults that embrace a model of care centred on individual recipients of care. In long-term care, models of person, resident and relationship-centred care have been developed and implemented to promote independence, decision making and choices of residents. Although the concepts of centredness have been readily adopted in these environments, what constitutes centredness is often vague and lacks conceptual clarity and definition. The research questions guiding this scoping review are: (1) What are the defining attributes, conceptual boundaries and theoretical underpinnings of each centredness term in long-term care? (2) For what purposes have centredness directed models of care been used in this context? (3) What types of study designs have been used to examine centredness in this context? (4) What outcomes related to centredness have been reported or evaluated and how were they measured in long-term care? METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This review uses the methodological framework for conducting a scoping review by Arksey and O'Malley. The search strategy will be applied to nine bibliographic and citation databases, Google Scholar and the grey literature. Study selection will occur in a two-step process. First, the titles and abstracts of all search results will be screened by individual reviewers. Second, a full-text review will be conducted by a pair of reviewers. To be included articles must (1) define centredness in the context of long-term care; (2) describe the defining features of centredness; (3) explore the theoretical underpinnings of centredness; (4) outline outcomes of centredness or (5) use outcome measures related to centredness. Data will be extracted from included studies and analysed using thematic analysis as described by Braun and Clark. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Research ethics approval is not required for this scoping review. Dissemination strategies will follow a targeted and tailored approach based on study findings.