Self-care practice within the palliative care workforce is often discussed, yet seemingly under-researched. While palliative care professionals are required to implement and maintain effective self-care strategies, there appears little evidence to guide them. Moreover, there is an apparent need to clarify the meaning of self-care in palliative care practice. This paper reports qualitative findings within the context of a broader mixed-methods study. The aim of the present study was to explore the meaning and practice of self-care as described by palliative care nurses and doctors. A purposive sample of 24 palliative care nurses and doctors across Australia participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed prior to inductive qualitative content analysis, supported by QSR NVivo data management software. Three overarching themes emerged from the analysis: (1) A proactive and holistic approach to promoting personal health and wellbeing to support professional care of others; (2) Personalised self-care strategies within professional and non-professional contexts; and (3) Barriers and enablers to self-care practice. The findings of this study provide a detailed account of the context and complexity of effective self-care practice previously lacking in the literature. Self-care is a proactive, holistic, and personalised approach to the promotion of health and wellbeing through a variety of strategies, in both personal and professional settings, to enhance capacity for compassionate care of patients and their families. This research adds an important qualitative perspective and serves to advance knowledge of both the context and effective practice of self-care in the palliative care workforce.

This study examined levels of, and relationships between, self-care ability, self-compassion, and compassion among palliative care nurses and doctors. Methods: A total of 369 participants across Australia completed a cross-sectional survey comprising a demographic questionnaire and outcome measures for each variable. Descriptive and inferential statistics were analysed, controlling for potential social-desirability bias. Results: Levels of compassion, self-compassion and self-care ability varied, with some individuals scoring high or low in each. Self-compassion and self-care ability were positively correlated (r = .412, p<.001), whereas a negative correlation was observed between compassion and self-compassion (r = -.122, p<.05). Linear regression further indicated that: increased compassion was associated with a decrease in self-compassion, and increased self-care ability was associated with an increase in self-compassion. Conclusion: These results suggest important implications for self-care in the palliative care workforce. Moreover, this study contributes an empirical basis to inform future research and education to promote balanced compassion and compassion literacy in palliative care practice.

Background: While the need for digital health capability and technological innovation in palliative care services is growing rapidly, relatively little is known about the current uptake and views of individual palliative care practitioners. This study aims to explore palliative care practitioners’ current use of and perspectives on digital health innovation in palliative care. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey with a web-based questionnaire was used. Participants were multidisciplinary palliative care practitioners in Australia. Results: Surveys were returned by 170 medical, nursing, and allied health practitioners working in palliative care. Most respondents reported using a variety of digital health technology associated with clinical information systems, mobile devices, SMS text messaging, teleconferencing, and Wi-Fi. These technologies were used for the purpose of communicating with other health professionals, accessing web-based or mobile health palliative care resources, collecting or managing patient data, and providing information or education. However, few reported electronic access to patients’ advance care planning documentation or could update these data. Respondents were moderately confident in their ability to use digital health, held positive beliefs that palliative care could be enhanced through digital health, and were generally supportive of ongoing innovation through digitally-enable models of care. Palliative care providers would most like to see digital health innovations in the areas of client health records, telehealth, and personal health tracking. Conclusion: This is the first national study of digital health in Australian palliative care providers. It contributes new knowledge in this important area of palliative care practice to guide policy and education, whilst informing future directions for research.