ABSTRACT
Background: By acceptance of palliative care as a part of health system of each country and due to increasing prevalence of cancer, special focus on stakeholder's educational needs is of vital importance so that palliative care services are improved and the quality of life of patients is enhanced. This study was conducted to explore the educational needs of stakeholders of palliative care for cancer patients in Iran
Methods: This qualitative study with 20 semi-structured interviews was conducted from August 2016 to February 2017 in Shohadaye Tajrish and Emam Khomeini Hospitals of Tehran. Participants were selected through purposive sampling and included cancer patients and their family caregivers as well as healthcare providers, experts and policy-makers. The data were analyzed through Conventional Content Analysis of Landman and Graneheim using MAXQDA10 software. Statements of each main category of the study were summarized in SWOT categorizes
Result: A total of 546 codes were extracted from the analysis of the interviews and four main categories and four subcategories were identified. The four main identified categories included:"academic education planning", "workforce education", "public awareness", and "patient and caregiver empowerment" that contained our subcategories as follows: "strengths", "weaknesses", "opportunities" and "threats" [SWOT].
Conclusion: Meeting the educational needs of the stakeholders of palliative care requires policymakers to identify the factors leading to strategies that are based on the use of opportunities, the removal of weaknesses, and coping with the threats to which the organization is faced
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Middle Aged , Aged , Needs Assessment , Neoplasms , Stakeholder ParticipationABSTRACT
Background: Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease in humans, which is the greatest cause of physical disability among the elderly in developed countries. Homeopathy is a specific therapy that treats patients based on precise stimulation of the immune and vital systems by certain homeopathy medications. Given the widespread use of this technology, in this article, we compared homeopathy Health Technology with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of osteoarthritis
Methods: In this study, Health Technology Assessment [HTA] was employed to compare homeopathy treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs], by reviewing clinical trials. The study population included patients with knee osteoarthritis; the intervention group included homeopathy, and the control group comprised routine medical treatment [NSAID] and outcomes measured included efficacy, safety, and cost effectiveness. The most important electronic medical databases were searched for relevant articles published from 2000 to 2016, including The Cochrane Library, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials [CENTRAL]; Center for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York [CRD; NHS EED], Trip; PubMed; EMBASE and Google Scholar
Results: Effectiveness was measured by indicators of pain and motor function. Total changes in VAS index revealed about 34 units decrease in the intervention group, while there was 12 units reduction in the control group. Reducing the consequences of pain and knee function problems were 10 points more in the intervention group in comparison to the control group. Safety outcomes were measured via skin reactions [and sensitivity] which were lower in the intervention group. In terms of cost-effectiveness, the results revealed that for each unit of pain relief, more cost was spent in homeopathy method
Conclusion: Given that the overall costs of both treatments were low, even with the higher effectiveness and safety of homeopathy treatment, compared with NSAIDs, homeopathy is preferable