Nursing management of people experiencing homelessness at the end of life
Intended for healthcare professionals
CPD Previous     Next

Nursing management of people experiencing homelessness at the end of life

Wendy Ann Webb Queen’s nurse, doctoral student, Institute of Health and Society, St John’s Campus, University of Worcester, Worcester, England
Theresa Mitchell Associate professor of nursing, Institute of Health and Society, St John’s Campus, University of Worcester, Worcester, England
Brian Nyatanga Senior lecturer, Institute of Health and Society, St John’s Campus, University of Worcester, Worcester, England
Paul Snelling Principal lecturer in adult nursing, Institute of Health and Society, St John’s Campus, University of Worcester, Worcester, England

Homelessness is a complex and multidimensional issue often involving a combination of personal vulnerability, the limitations of social housing, and inadequacies in welfare support. Providing palliative and end-of-life care to people experiencing homelessness is challenging, both to individuals receiving care and nurses aiming to meet their complex needs. This article discusses what is understood by the concept of ‘homelessness’ and examines the barriers to accessing effective healthcare for people who are homeless and have life-limiting conditions. The authors review the research into end of life care for people experiencing homelessness and identify areas for further investigation, notably the lack of evidence regarding the end of life care priorities of these individuals. There is a focus on the availability of healthcare services for people who are homeless at the end of life, as well as the factors that should be considered if evidence-based healthcare services for this group of people are to be improved in the future.

Nursing Standard. 32, 27, 53-63. doi: 10.7748/ns.2018.e11070

Correspondence

wendy@registerednurses.com

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Conflict of interest

None declared

Revalidation

Prepare for revalidation: read this CPD article, answer the questionnaire and write a reflective account: rcni.com/revalidation

To write a CPD article

Please email tanya.fernandes@rcni.com. Guidelines on writing for publication are available at: rcni.com/writeforus

Received: 19 November 2017

Accepted: 11 January 2018

Want to read more?

Already subscribed? Log in

OR

Unlock full access to RCNi Plus today

Save over 50% on your first 3 months

Your subscription package includes:
  • Unlimited online access to all 10 RCNi Journals and their archives
  • Customisable dashboard featuring 200+ topics
  • RCNi Learning featuring 180+ RCN accredited learning modules
  • RCNi Portfolio to build evidence for revalidation
  • Personalised newsletters tailored to your interests
Subscribe
RCN student member? Try Nursing Standard Student

Alternatively, you can purchase access to this article for the next seven days. Buy now

Or