Description

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Caring for terminally ill patients and their families is challenging. Patients with life limiting illness require the skills of many professionals but also the support of their community. While most clinicians are comfortable in assessing a broad range of physical problems, it is often the psychosocial issues that prove the most complex. These issues range from psychosocial assessment to the treatment and care of patients with life limiting illnesses. Evaluating emotional, social and spiritual needs, in particular, requires excellent teamwork.

This fully-updated and expanded new edition takes a comprehensive look at current practice and provision of psychosocial support as applied to a range of palliative care patients. A number of important areas are covered including community approaches of psychosocial care, neonatal palliative care, the provision of psychosocial care to families, the role of volunteers in supporting palliative care professionals, and the needs of the frail elderly, marginalised patients, and those with dementia.

Including multiple case study examples, this highly practical text examines current literature and evidence to demonstrate the best research-based practice in psychosocial care. It is an essential resource for professionals working within hospitals and communities in the fields of medicine, nursing, social work, chaplaincy, counselling, primary care, and mental health.

About the Author

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Mari Lloyd-Williams, Professor and Consultant in Palliative Medicine, University of Liverpool Professor Mari Lloyd-Williams qualified from Leicester University medical school. She was appointed Consultant and Honorary Senior Lecturer to the University of Leicester Hospitals Trust and LOROs Hospice prior to moving to the University of Liverpool as Consultant and Senior Lecturer. ln 2003 Mari was promoted to a personal chair. She has published over 150 papers and lectures both nationally and internationally and is lead of the highly successful Academic Palliative and Supportive Care Studies Group. Mari has served on several national committees and working parties and lives with her family in North Wales where she enjoys cooking, reading and long walks in the countryside.