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“It's not about treatment, it's how to improve your life”: The lived experience of occupational therapy in palliative care

Abstract Objectives: A key aim of palliative care is to improve the quality-of-life of people with a life-threatening illness. Occupational therapists are well positioned to contribute to this aim due to their broad range of interventions, client-centeredness and focus on occupation. However, there is a limited understanding of how occupational therapy contributes to the end-of-life experience, which is crucial to providing optimal care. The aim of this study is to investigate the lived experience of occupational therapy in palliative care for people with a life-threatening illness. Method: A hermeneutic interpretive phenomenological approach was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants recruited from inpatient and outpatient sectors of a specialist palliative care hospital in Sydney, Australia. Results: The two themes developed from participant responses were: (1) occupational therapy provides comfort and safety and (2) trusting the occupational therapist to know what is needed. Significance of results: This study gives insight into the ways in which people with a life-threatening illness experience occupational therapy in palliative care. In addition, it provides a starting point to guide practice that is attentive to the needs of people with a life-threatening illness at end-of-life, thus enhancing client-centered care.