A realist evaluation of a home-based end of life care service for children and families: what works, for whom, how, in what circumstances and why?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Children's palliative and end of life care is underpinned internationally by a commitment to provide care and support in the family's preferred place, which may include home, hospital or hospice. Limited evidence on models of best practice for the provision of children's end of life care at home is available. This realist evaluation of a novel, home-based end of life care service explored what works for whom, how, in what circumstances and why.

Methods

Adopting principles of realist evaluation, an initial programme theory (IPT) was developed from multiple data sources including a scoping review, service documentation review, audit of service data, and qualitative data gathered from stakeholder (n = 6) and family interviews (n = 10). Three families who had used the

SUBMITTER: Malcolm C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8902768 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature