Barbara Monroe

This book address and explains the research evidence, theoretical concepts and practical implications behind the idea of brief work with bereaved children, young people and families. It looks at different approaches to intervention including the use of new technologies, the importance of assessment, the value of group work, work with children and families before a death and appropriate responses to traumatic losses. The book features chapters from distinguished contributors with backgrounds in healthcare, education, social work and the police alongside theoretical and practice-based chapters from workers and researchers in the field of bereavement care for children.… (mais)

This book address and explains the research evidence, theoretical concepts and practical implications behind the idea of brief work with bereaved children, young people and families. It looks at different approaches to intervention including the use of new technologies, the importance of assessment, the value of group work, work with children and families before a death and appropriate responses to traumatic losses. The book features chapters from distinguished contributors with backgrounds in healthcare, education, social work and the police alongside theoretical and practice-based chapters from workers and researchers in the field of bereavement care for children.… (mais)

The first book of its kind, Resilience and Palliative Care - Achievement in adversity takes the increasing international literature on resilience and applies it to palliative and end-of-life care. The book offers an overview of all key aspects of palliative care, presented through a resilience perspective. Why do some patients and families break down while others surmounts the challenges facing them? What interventions strengthen individual, family and community coping? This book aims to facilitate change with people facing the crisis of death, dying and bereavement. Much of the existing literature has focused on risk, problems and vulnerability; the emerging concept of resilience focuses on strengths and possibilities. The 'total pain'/'total care' approach pioneered by Dame Cicely Saunders and St Christopher's Hospice now needs reinterpreting in the light of changing contexts and challenges. The realities of demographic change and resource-constrained health and social care environments have generated an increasingly risk focused approach to service delivery. A narrowly medicalised approach has inevitable limitations; professional care alone will be unable to meet need and demand in the face of ageing populations, changing patterns of illness and the need for equity. The resilience approach offers a counterbalance that harnesses the strengths of individuals and the communities in which they live and in which most of their dying will take place. Resilience thinking emphasises the importance of public health and creates a partnership between patients, professionals and community structures, seeking to build community capacity and to deliver a preventive health care that will leave future generations less afraid of the dying and bereavement that will confront all of us. This book offers insights into how, at all levels of planning and delivering palliative care, there is the opportunity to maximise coping, build an infrastructure for self-help, and increase the capacity of strengthened teams and organisations.
Review: ...a useful addition to the library shelves of anyone working in palliative care and could be used as a reference as well as to promote discussion among team members. Speech and Language Therapy in Practice ...well-written and easy to read and understand...I recommend this book as a must for all professionals engaged in palliative care, clinically and/or in teaching the subject. I do not know of any other book which deals exclusively and openly with resilience in palliative care... this book should have a place in every health and social care library. Christiane Banton, Sr Lecturer Palliative Care, University of Wolverhampton… (mais)

Patient participation and user involvement are central to current thinking about the effective delivery of desired healthcare outcomes. Working with the person who lies behind every patient is core to palliative care. A voice can only become significant when it is listened to and acted upon. With palliative care increasingly addressing the needs of people with a variety of conditions in a range of settings, as well as with advances in research, technology, and information, the challenge to be 'a voice for the voiceless' is greater than ever. This book addresses key aspects in the provision of patient-centred palliative care and tracks significant developments in user involvement. It sets the philosophy within the cultural, social and political context of modern healthcare, particularly addressing issues of quality, standards, education and bereavement. A key component in the delivery of high quality palliative care is the multi-professional team. Following a discussion of teamwork, five core professions present a critical analysis of their working practices. The book concludes with a commentary from a palliative care user and a bereaved carer. It is often somewhat glibly asserted that the patient is, or should be, at the centre of care. There have been few attempts to examine how to keep him or her there without professional needs and protocols crowding him or her out. This book asks how we listen and why we listen. The book focuses on the challenges of how professionals can keep the needs of the patient central in clinical care and how the patient can influence the direction of that care.
Review: This book is a timely reminder that we need to remain patient focused, and that patient centred care must not be lost or obscured by advances in palliative medicine or by the increasingly informed and multicultural societies in which we work. The book should be of interest to all members of the palliative care team, and particularly to those involved in management and quality assurance. IAHPC Website… (mais)