The role of companionship in palliative care in older adults: a scoping review

Abstract

Background. Considering the high prevalence of chronic diseases in older adults, providing care to them requires a special approach that focuses on palliative care. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the role of companionship in palliative care in older adults and identify the research gap related to it. Methods. This scoping review study was guided by the method of Arksey and Malley. Researches on the role of companionship in palliative care in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, SID, Magiran, and Google Scholar with keywords of companion*, "palliative care" and their English and Persian equivalents were searched. based on the results of 10 studies; the consequences were categorized. Results. Based on the results of 10 studies included in this study, the role of companionship in palliative care can be divided into two categories of positive and negative outcomes. Positive consequences can be classified into physical, mental, spiritual, social, economic, and moral dimensions. Regarding the negative consequences, some roles were explicit, and others were implicit. The latter case indicates a gap in information that requires further study. Conclusion. It is necessary for researchers to pay attention to companionship in palliative care by focusing on its consequences, especially its negative consequences. It is recommended that qualitative and interventional studies should be conducted in Iran. Practical Implications. Researchers can be sensitized to conduct qualitative and interventional studies to accurately investigate the role of companionship in palliative care.