title: "It's not about treatment, it's how to improve your life": The lived experience of occupational therapy in palliative care.
abstract: A key aim of palliative care is to improve the quality-of-life of people with a life-threatening illness. Occupational therapists are well positioned to contribute to this aim due to their broad range of interventions, client-centeredness and focus on occupation. However, there is a limited understanding of how occupational therapy contributes to the end-of-life experience, which is crucial to providing optimal care. The aim of this study is to investigate the lived experience of occupational therapy in palliative care for people with a life-threatening illness.
  
  
  
  A hermeneutic interpretive phenomenological approach was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants recruited from inpatient and outpatient sectors of a specialist palliative care hospital in Sydney, Australia.
  
  
  
  The two themes developed from participant responses were: (1) occupational therapy provides comfort and safety and (2) trusting the occupational therapist to know what is needed.
  
  
  
  This study gives insight into the ways in which people with a life-threatening illness experience occupational therapy in palliative care. In addition, it provides a starting point to guide practice that is attentive to the needs of people with a life-threatening illness at end-of-life, thus enhancing client-centered care.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences,The University of Sydney,Sydney,Australia.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Badger
authors.affiliation: Northern Clinical School,The University of Sydney, and HammondCare,Sydney,Australia.
authors.forename: Rod
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Macleod
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences,The University of Sydney,Sydney,Australia.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Honey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Occupational therapy; Palliative care; Patient satisfaction; Quality-of-life; phenomenology