Palliative Care - Background, Approaches and Challenges

Abstract

The following article provides an overview of palliative care and central concepts of the health, nursing, and social care notion focusing on the quality of life of seriously ill and dying people. This presentation is based on the lecture “Palliative Care – Possibilities and Limits” as part of the event series “Dying and Death” held by the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Fribourg in the spring of 2016. In addition to its historical and social backgrounds, the presentation focusses on the principles of palliative care and sheds light on the approaches that are pursued in it and the challenges that are associated with it.