Usability of Two Ultrasound Tongue Imaging Devices in Speech-Language Pathology.

Purpose: Ultrasound tongue imaging is a promising tool in speech-language pathology; however, little is known about the usability of ultrasound scanners for speech-language pathologists (SLPs), who typically have low familiarity with ultrasound imaging. This study looks at the usability of two ultrasound scanner models for SLPs: a Sonosite all-in-one scanner with a wired probe, and a Clarius wireless probe scanner, used with a tablet app.

Method: Twelve SLPs and phonetics experts (all female) participated in two filmed sessions in our lab where they learned to use the two models of scanners with custom-written manuals.

Continuous palliative sedation until death: a qualitative study of palliative care clinicians' experiences.

Background: The practice of continuous palliative sedation until death is the subject of much medical and ethical debate, which is reflected in the inconsistency that persists in the literature regarding the definition and indications of palliative sedation.

Aim: This study aims to gain a better understanding of palliative care clinicians' experiences with continuous palliative sedation.

Design: We conducted a qualitative study based on focus group discussions.

How does community engagement evolve in different compassionate community contexts? A longitudinal comparative ethnographic research protocol.

Background: Compassionate communities build on health promoting palliative care that aims to address gaps in access, quality, and continuity of care in the context of dying, death, loss, and grief. While community engagement is a core principle of public health palliative care, it has received little attention in empirical studies of compassionate communities.

Objectives: The objectives of this research are to describe the process of community engagement initiated by two compassionate communities projects, to understand the influence of contextual factors on community engagement over time, and assess the contribution of community engagement on proximal outcomes and the potential for sustaining compassionate communities.

How compassionate communities are implemented and evaluated in practice: a scoping review.

Background: Compassionate communities are rooted in a health promotion approach to palliative care, aiming to support solidarity among community members at the end of life. Hundreds of compassionate communities have been developed internationally in recent years. However, it remains unknown how their implementation on the ground aligns with core strategies of health promotion.

Information needs of francophone health care professionals and the public with regard to medical assistance in dying in Quebec: a qualitative study.

Background: In 2016, the Canadian government legalized medical assistance in dying (MAiD) for adults with terminal illness. The objective of this study was to explore the information needs of health care professionals and members of the public regarding MAiD.

Methods: This was a qualitative study involving a 1-day face-to-face forum followed by a 3-week online forum across the province of Quebec conducted in June 2016.

Barriers to and facilitators for using a risk assessment tool to prevent violent behaviour in patients with mental health conditions: Perspectives of health care providers.

Unlabelled: Regular assessment of risk of violence is shown to be effective in reducing violence in mental health services.

Purpose: To evaluate health care providers' use of a violence risk assessment tool on a mental health unit and the facilitators for and barriers to its use.

Methods: A descriptive study using the Dillman approach and informed by the Knowledge to Action framework was conducted.

Advance Care Planning for Mechanical Ventilation: A Qualitative Study on Health-Care Providers' Approaches to Cross-Cultural Care.

Advance care planning (ACP) is a method used for patients to express in advance their preferences for life-sustaining treatments at the end of life. With growing ethnocultural diversity in Canada, health-care providers are managing an increasing number of diverse beliefs and values that are commonly associated with preferences for intensive mechanical ventilation (MV) treatment at the end of life. This study aimed to identify and describe the approaches used by health-care providers to set advance care plans for MV with seriously ill patients from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds.

International changes in end-of-life practices over time: a systematic review.

Background: End-of-life policies are hotly debated in many countries, with international evidence frequently used to support or oppose legal reforms. Existing reviews are limited by their focus on specific practices or selected jurisdictions. The objective is to review international time trends in end-of-life practices.

Medical end-of-life practices among Canadian physicians: a pilot study.

Background: Medical end-of-life practices are hotly debated in Canada, and data from other countries are used to support arguments. The objective of this pilot study was twofold: to adapt and validate a questionnaire designed to measure the prevalence of these practices in Canada and the underlying decision-making process, and to assess the feasibility of a nationally representative study.

Methods: In phase 1, questionnaires from previous studies were adapted to the Canadian context through consultations with a multidisciplinary committee and based on a scoping review.

Health care professionals' comprehension of the legal status of end-of-life practices in Quebec: study of clinical scenarios.

Objective: To determine health care professionals' understanding of the current legal status of different end-of-life practices and their future legal status if medical aid in dying were legalized, and to identify factors associated with misunderstanding surrounding the current legal status.

Design: Cross-sectional survey using 6 clinical scenarios developed from a validated European questionnaire and from a validated classification of end-of-life practices.

Setting: Quebec.

Comparing end-of-life practices in different policy contexts: a scoping review.

Objectives: End-of-life policy reforms are being debated in many countries. Research evidence is used to support different assumptions about the effects of public policies on end-of-life practices. It is however unclear whether reliable international practice comparisons can be conducted between different policy contexts.

[Communication process in consultation of patients with incurable disease: a prospective study].

Patients wish to be fully informed about their health, but some information and its disclosure may pose special challenges depending on the severity of the illness. This prospective observational study investigates the content of information about the disease and treatment, as well as the process by which information is disclosed as part of 51 consultations with people with malignant gliomas. Patients and their relatives were fully informed of the diagnosis and treatments (types, risks, practical details), but disease progression with and without treatment, like the prognosis, was rarely addressed.

Confusion between euthanasia and other end-of-life decisions: influences on public opinion poll results.

Background: Public opinion polls indicate that a majority of Canadians are in favour of euthanasia. However, there have been many criticisms of the validity of these findings. The objective of this study was to assess public opinion towards euthanasia while controlling for possible threats to validity indicated in the literature review.

Trends in acceptance of euthanasia among the general public in 12 European countries (1981-1999).

Background: We wanted to examine how the acceptance of euthanasia among the general public in Western Europe has changed in the last decades, and we wanted to look for possible explanations.

Methods: We analysed data from the European Values Surveys, held in 1981, 1990, and 1999-2000 in 12 West European countries. In each country, representative samples of the general public were interviewed using the same structured questionnaire in all countries.

European public acceptance of euthanasia: socio-demographic and cultural factors associated with the acceptance of euthanasia in 33 European countries.

In many European countries, the last decade has been marked by an increasing debate about the acceptability and regulation of euthanasia and other end-of-life decisions in medical practice. Growing public sensibility to a 'right to die' for terminally ill patients has been one of the main constituents of these debates. Within this context, we sought to describe and compare acceptance of euthanasia among the general public in 33 European countries.