title: The practice of pilgrimage in palliative care: a case study of Lourdes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand why healthcare professionals working in palliative care felt that pilgrimage to Lourdes could be a beneficial activity for the terminally ill.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative study using a phenomenological framework.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of hospice staff.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The reasons given for accompanying the terminally ill to Lourdes reflected the general aims of palliative care. They included improving the quality of life through the provision of a holiday, maintaining patient choice and autonomy and enabling inner-transformations. The communitas, or altered relationships, formed during the pilgrimage were also seen as beneficial.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Science, University of Birmingham, 52 Pritchatts Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. a.k.lillie@bham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Alison Kate
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Lillie
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002410:Catholicism / Q000523:psychology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005086:Existentialism / Q000523:psychology; D029221:Faith Healing / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006126:Group Processes; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006693:Holidays / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000523:psychology*; D014195:Travel / Q000523:psychology*; D035501:Uncertainty