Interpretation of palliative care concept, its barriers and facilitators using meta-synthesis

Palliative care is one of the most important concepts in nursing. The aim of this study was to interpret palliative care concept، its barriers and facilitators using meta-synthesis. In this meta-synthesis study، a systematic review was conducted and qualitative articles related to palliative care concept in Medline، Elsevier and Ovid in the period from 2002 to 2012 were selected. To facilitate the search، the terms “palliative care” and «qualitative research” were used by MeSH system. Then articles that exactly had studied palliative care concept and its related factors، and were published in English، were selected for analysis and were compared. In this study، 553qualitative articles related to palliative care concept were found and 44 articles were in close relation to palliative care concept which included 22 articles from Medline، 3 articles from Elsevier، and 19 articles from Ovid databases. In total، from the 44 qualitative articles in the period from 2002 to 2012، the full texts of 16 articles were selected and reviewed in an interpretive manner. Data were analyzed using open coding style. Results from interpretation of palliative care concept، its barriers and facilitators were categorized in 3 themes consisting of palliative care concept، palliative care facilitating، and palliative care threatening factors. In general، 35 codes were introduced as the most important elements in the context of palliative care. The results show that palliative care is a complex and multi-dimensional concept. Multiple factors are related to it which can facilitate or threaten it. In addition، the results of the present meta- synthesis showed that palliative care is not bounded by a specific time or place and enjoys a team and interdisciplinary approach.