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Needs assessment for palliative care: three projects comparedSchool of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sheffield, Sheffield
Trent Palliative Care Centre Sheffield
Medical Sociology, Department of Palliative Medicine, University of Sheffield, Sheffield Needs assessment remains an inexact yet evolving field of activity in palliative care. One reason for the variable quality of needs assessments in palliative care is the pragmatic orientation that comes from limited time and resources. Consequently a comprehensive approach to palliative care needs assessment is often not achieved. One route to its improvement lies in sharing experiences about techniques and methods in conducting needs assessment studies. In this paper we offer some thoughts on our own experience of conducting needs assessment for palliative care in three separate locations within a single English health region. We describe the context in which the projects were conducted; the background and origin of each study; the aims and methods used; the research process in each case; key findings; as well as the dissemination process and impact of the work. We show some of the different forms which palliative care needs assessment can take and conclude with some general principles intended to improve practice in this challenging area of health services research.
Key Words: needs assessment collaboration user involvement pluralistic methods dissemination process
Palliative Medicine, Vol. 15, No. 5,
398-404 (2001) |
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