Objectives To investigate why patients with terminal illness and their families in Shanghai choose the hospice ward and their decision-making process.Methods This was a mixed-method study consisting of a cross-section...Objectives To investigate why patients with terminal illness and their families in Shanghai choose the hospice ward and their decision-making process.Methods This was a mixed-method study consisting of a cross-sectional survey and a descriptive qualitative study.Medical decision-makers for patients hospitalized in hospice wards were recruited between September 2019 and July 2021.A medical decision-maker is a family member who makes medical decisions for a patient.All 146 participants completed a self-developed 10-item questionnaire that included five items about their demographic characteristics and five items about the decision-making process.The semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine participants to understand the family’s decision-making process when they chose a hospice ward.The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.Results The mean age of the 146 participants was 57.6 years old.Of the decision-makers,56.85%were the patients’children.Family-dominated discussions involving other family members were the main decision-making mode(84.93%).Patient participation in the decision-making process was reported in 43.15%of families.The participation of doctors(17.81%)and nurses(2.05%)were reported in a small number of families.The most common reason for choosing the hospice ward was the inability to find any other hospital for the patients(82.19%).The most common ways to learn about the service were neighbors and friends(38.36%)and social media(28.77%).Two themes and six categories emerged from the interviews.The first theme was reasons for choosing hospice wards.The reasons included being unable to care for the patients at home,staying in a hospice ward could reduce the psychological stress for home care,being unable to be admitted into tertiary/secondary hospitals,and thinking a hospice ward was a suitable place for the family.The second theme was the decision process of choosing a hospice ward.This theme included the following two categories,i.e.,ways to learn about the hospice ward and family-discussion decision mode.Conclusion To most families having dying patients,a hospice ward is a reasonable and balanced choice after the families experience huge care stress and practical difficulties.The participation of patients should be encouraged in the family discussion so that their wishes can be known.More efforts will be needed to guide the families with dying patients to make reasonable medical choices.Social media can be a good way to improve public awareness of hospice services in the future.Meanwhile,healthcare providers should be more involved in the decision-making process.展开更多
This paper investigates the social-aware cooperation(SAC) among mobile terminals(MTs), motivated by the fact that modern smart devices have much improved context awareness. Aware of the social ties, the cooperative ne...This paper investigates the social-aware cooperation(SAC) among mobile terminals(MTs), motivated by the fact that modern smart devices have much improved context awareness. Aware of the social ties, the cooperative network contains two layers of property: social and physical. In order to observe how the social awareness benefit the cooperation performance, we first formulate the social ties between MTs into parameters that can describe the cooperative behaviors by taking the mobility feature into account, defined as the conviction-approval-suspicion(CAS) model. Limited by the processing capability, partner selection is of great practical significance. To this end, the social-aware partner selection strategy is analyzed, and a significant superiority is observed compared to social-unaware selection. By analyzing the cooperative throughput, an explicit relationship between the degrees-of-freedom gain and the social-physical property is finally derived. Simulation results validate the theoretical analysis.展开更多
In our actual framework of constant social and cultural changing, we are witnessing a transformation of the adults＇ patterns and pathways of life. Currently, people＇s lives cannot be analyzed using a macro-perspecti...In our actual framework of constant social and cultural changing, we are witnessing a transformation of the adults＇ patterns and pathways of life. Currently, people＇s lives cannot be analyzed using a macro-perspective, marked by partitioning phases, but the various stages we undergo from childhood to the third age are being overlapped and this is reflected with particular relevance in the field of learning, where the notion of lifelong learning is present in our personal, social and professional everyday contexts, in Portugal, the New Opportunities Initiative is building new and innovative education and training pathways, which privilege the autobiographical methods, where adults, from their life stories, are challenged to resort to new ways of valuing their experiences, potentiating the acquisition of new skills, in a logic of personal, social and professional empowerments. This formative/training logic has shown to be the promoter of a growing autonomy from the adults. We will present, here, the qualitative multi-case study we are developing in this area, which is centered on adults＇/professionals＇ autobiographies and focuses on the understanding of adult education, lifelong learning and on the analysis of the mediation figures associated with them.展开更多
文摘Objectives To investigate why patients with terminal illness and their families in Shanghai choose the hospice ward and their decision-making process.Methods This was a mixed-method study consisting of a cross-sectional survey and a descriptive qualitative study.Medical decision-makers for patients hospitalized in hospice wards were recruited between September 2019 and July 2021.A medical decision-maker is a family member who makes medical decisions for a patient.All 146 participants completed a self-developed 10-item questionnaire that included five items about their demographic characteristics and five items about the decision-making process.The semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine participants to understand the family’s decision-making process when they chose a hospice ward.The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.Results The mean age of the 146 participants was 57.6 years old.Of the decision-makers,56.85%were the patients’children.Family-dominated discussions involving other family members were the main decision-making mode(84.93%).Patient participation in the decision-making process was reported in 43.15%of families.The participation of doctors(17.81%)and nurses(2.05%)were reported in a small number of families.The most common reason for choosing the hospice ward was the inability to find any other hospital for the patients(82.19%).The most common ways to learn about the service were neighbors and friends(38.36%)and social media(28.77%).Two themes and six categories emerged from the interviews.The first theme was reasons for choosing hospice wards.The reasons included being unable to care for the patients at home,staying in a hospice ward could reduce the psychological stress for home care,being unable to be admitted into tertiary/secondary hospitals,and thinking a hospice ward was a suitable place for the family.The second theme was the decision process of choosing a hospice ward.This theme included the following two categories,i.e.,ways to learn about the hospice ward and family-discussion decision mode.Conclusion To most families having dying patients,a hospice ward is a reasonable and balanced choice after the families experience huge care stress and practical difficulties.The participation of patients should be encouraged in the family discussion so that their wishes can be known.More efforts will be needed to guide the families with dying patients to make reasonable medical choices.Social media can be a good way to improve public awareness of hospice services in the future.Meanwhile,healthcare providers should be more involved in the decision-making process.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2013CB329001)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61132002, 61201186)
文摘This paper investigates the social-aware cooperation(SAC) among mobile terminals(MTs), motivated by the fact that modern smart devices have much improved context awareness. Aware of the social ties, the cooperative network contains two layers of property: social and physical. In order to observe how the social awareness benefit the cooperation performance, we first formulate the social ties between MTs into parameters that can describe the cooperative behaviors by taking the mobility feature into account, defined as the conviction-approval-suspicion(CAS) model. Limited by the processing capability, partner selection is of great practical significance. To this end, the social-aware partner selection strategy is analyzed, and a significant superiority is observed compared to social-unaware selection. By analyzing the cooperative throughput, an explicit relationship between the degrees-of-freedom gain and the social-physical property is finally derived. Simulation results validate the theoretical analysis.
文摘In our actual framework of constant social and cultural changing, we are witnessing a transformation of the adults＇ patterns and pathways of life. Currently, people＇s lives cannot be analyzed using a macro-perspective, marked by partitioning phases, but the various stages we undergo from childhood to the third age are being overlapped and this is reflected with particular relevance in the field of learning, where the notion of lifelong learning is present in our personal, social and professional everyday contexts, in Portugal, the New Opportunities Initiative is building new and innovative education and training pathways, which privilege the autobiographical methods, where adults, from their life stories, are challenged to resort to new ways of valuing their experiences, potentiating the acquisition of new skills, in a logic of personal, social and professional empowerments. This formative/training logic has shown to be the promoter of a growing autonomy from the adults. We will present, here, the qualitative multi-case study we are developing in this area, which is centered on adults＇/professionals＇ autobiographies and focuses on the understanding of adult education, lifelong learning and on the analysis of the mediation figures associated with them.
