Justification for information and knowledge: perceptions of family members in palliative home care in Sweden.
OBJECTIVE
Several studies have concluded that family members in palliative home care want information about the patient's disease. The aim of this study was to describe family members' perceptions of their motivation for receiving information about the patient's disease.


METHODS
Semistructured tape-recorded interviews were performed with 20 family members of patients with incurable progressive cancer who were admitted to hospital-based home care in Sweden. Data were analyzed using a qualitative phenomenographic method.


RESULTS
Family members justified their informational needs by emphasizing that they needed to understand and confirm what would happen when the disease progressed, to be mentally prepared for the future, to organize their daily life, to be a source of information to others, and that receiving information was a natural right.


CONCLUSIONS
This study has revealed some explanations as to why family members want information. In clinical practice, it is important that palliative care team members are aware of family members' level of knowledge and their need for information, as this mental preparation is important.
Friedrichsen
Maria J
MJ
Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Welfare and Care, Palliative Care, Linköping University, 601 74 Norrköping, Sweden. marfr@ivv.liu.se
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D030881:Disclosure; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010166:Palliative Care; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D013548:Sweden