| Summary, etc. |
<h4 style="font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0.25em 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;">INTRODUCTION:</h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.538em; font-size: 1.04em; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">End of life&nbsp;<span class="highlight">care</span>&nbsp;guidance for people with dementia is lacking and this has been made more problematic in England with the removal of one of the main end of life&nbsp;<span class="highlight">care</span>&nbsp;guidelines which offered some structure, the&nbsp;<span class="highlight">Liverpool</span>&nbsp;<span class="highlight">Care</span>&nbsp;Pathway. This guidance gap may be eased with the development of heuristics (rules of thumb) which offer a fast and frugal form of decision-making.</span></p><h4 style="font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0.25em 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">OBJECTIVE:</span></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.538em; font-size: 1.04em; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">To develop a toolkit of heuristics (rules of thumb) for practitioners to use when caring for people with dementia at the end of life.</span></p><h4 style="font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0.25em 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">METHOD AND ANALYSIS:</span></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.538em; font-size: 1.04em; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">A mixed-method study using a co-design approach to develop heuristics in three phases. In phase 1, we will conduct at least six focus groups with family carers, health and social&nbsp;<span class="highlight">care</span>&nbsp;practitioners from both hospital and community&nbsp;<span class="highlight">care</span>services, using the 'think-aloud' method to understand decision-making processes and to develop a set of heuristics. The focus group topic guide will be developed from the findings of a previous study of 46 interviews of family carers about quality end-of-life&nbsp;<span class="highlight">care</span>&nbsp;for people with dementia and a review of the literature. A multidisciplinary development team of health and social&nbsp;<span class="highlight">care</span>&nbsp;practitioners will synthesise the findings from the focus groups to devise and refine a toolkit of heuristics. Phase 2 will test the use of heuristics in practice in five sites: one general practice, one community nursing team, one hospital ward and two palliative&nbsp;<span class="highlight">care</span>&nbsp;teams working in the community. Phase 3 will evaluate and further refine the toolkit of heuristics through group interviews, online questionnaires and semistructured interviews.</span></p><h4 style="font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0.25em 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION:</span></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.538em; font-size: 1.04em; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">This study has received ethical approval from a local NHS research ethics committee (Rec ref: 15/LO/0156). The findings of this study will be presented in peer-reviewed publications and national and international conferences.</span></p> |