Defining a Good Death (Successful Dying): Literature Review and a Call for Research and Public Dialogue.

ABSTRACT: There is little agreement about what constitutes good death or successful dying. The authors conducted a literature search for published, English-language, peer-reviewed reports of qualitative and quantitative studies that provided a definition of a good death. Stakeholders in these articles included patients, prebereaved and bereaved family members, and healthcare providers (HCPs). Definitions found were categorized into core themes and subthemes, and the frequency of each theme was determined by stakeholder (patients, family, HCPs) perspectives. Thirty-six studies met eligibility criteria, with 50% of patient perspective articles including individuals over age 60 years. We identified 11 core themes of good death: preferences for a specific dying process, pain-free status, religiosity/spi

SUBMITTER: Meier EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4828197 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature