[Caregivers' needs concerning mobility support of a family member with terminal cancer - a narrative review]. / Bedürfnisse pflegender Angehöriger betreffend der Mobilität ihres krebskranken Familienmitgliedes am Lebensende: Ein narrativer Review.

BACKGROUND: Care for cancer patients is often provided by family caregivers. The terminal care period is usually associated with restricted mobility. AIM: The aim of this literature review is to analyse the needs of caregivers concerning mobility support and encouragement in everyday care of a cancer patient at the end of life. METHODS: Relevant articles were identified via electronic database searches in Cochrane, PubMed, PsychINFO, ERIC, and CINAHL. Studies examining needs concerning mobility support and encouragement for terminal cancer care provided by family caregivers at home, published in English or German, have been included. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed by two authors. RESULTS: A total of eleven studies with various designs have been included. The results show a need for information, guidance and support regarding mobility in two areas: i) activities of daily living including personal hygiene and ii) usage of equipment including transport. CONCLUSION: The literature review indicates that practical needs of family caregivers concerning mobility support and encouragement have been assessed unsystematically and not yet adequately studied. This should be done in future studies, in order to implement well-defined interventions for teaching nursing skills subsequently.

[Incontinence--a common issue for people with Parkinson's disease. A systematic literature review]. / Inkontinenz--ein häufiges Problem für Menschen mit einer Parkinsonerkrankung. Eine systematische Literaturübersicht.

Parkinson's disease is among the most common neurological diseases. About 4.1 million people are attected worldwide. The course of Parkinson's disease is chronically progressive. With L-Dopa therapy the life expectancy of people being affected by Parkinon's disease is not shortened compared with people who are not affected. Therefore people with Parkinson's disease often suffer from the serious effects for decades which include motor symptoms as well as vegetative disturbance, which concerns bladder function and functions of the gastrointestinal tract. Urinary and fecal incontinence involve severe impairment of quality of life. In this review the occurence of urinary and fecal incontinence should be determined in order to be able to describe its extent. There are different measures for treatment or improvement. These are reviewed based on the following research question: Which effects do interventions have in improving urinary and fecal incontinence in persons with Parkinson's disease compared to usual care? In order to answer the questions a systematic review was conducted. The literature search occured in the electronic databases Cochrane database, PubMed and CINAHL. Three studies investigating the prevalence with a total sample size of n = 1077 and for the evaluation of interventions four studies with a total sample size of n = 48 have been included. 25 percent of the women with Parkinson's disease suffer from urgency incontinence compared to seven percent of the women without Parkinson's disease (p < 0.01). Among men with Parkison's disease 28 percent are affected and six percent among men without Parkinson's disease (p < 0.01). In respect to stress and fecal incontinence there were no significant differences between people affected and people not affected by Parkinson's disease. With pelvic floor muscle exercises and accompanying measures as well as with injections of botulinum toxin A a reduction of urinary incontinence seems to be possible. Due to methodological insufficiency of these studies, no clear recommendations can be given.