Objective To identify the academic scientific production on palliative care in master dissertations and PhD theses carried out by nurses in Portugal. Method A descriptive retrospective study of bibliometric type with search for the abstracts available in repositories of higher education institutions in the period 2000-2014. Results Of the 1814 papers identified, 249 met the inclusion criteria (ten doctoral theses and 239 master dissertations). The most representative methodological approach was quantitative (31.35%) and the most studied area was family/informal caregiver (20.69%). The most studied target population were the students/health professionals (38.51%). Conclusion The academic scientific production in this area has been growing in spite of the need for continued investment in order to fill the identified gaps.

Community empowerment can be a process, but also the result of nursing care. To analyze it as a result there is an instrument that allows to quantify its level in nine domains. According to Melo (2020), health centers can be considered communities, becoming the potential target of community and public health nurses care, especially in the public health unit. One of the main functions of a public health unit is the epidemiological surveillance of the population’s health state. However, traditional epidemiological surveillance is focused on diseases and Melo (2020) proposes a new approach for epidemiology focused on people in what concerns nursing diagnosis. The aim of this research is to identify the level of empowerment of four Portuguese primary healthcare structures, named as ACeS, so as to improve the epidemiological surveillance of nursing diagnoses. As methodology, we developed four focus group with all nursing leaders from all primary care units of the four ACeS, using the Portuguese version of the empowerment assessment rating scale. The results present the level of community empowerment of each ACeS according to the nine domains of the scale. The needs of intervention to improve the ACeS empowerment were also identified in order to develop the epidemiological surveillance of nursing diagnoses.

Background: Palliative care needs are increasing worldwide. Although palliative care is an interdisciplinary approach, nurses play a central role in the team context. As it is necessary to clarify the unique contribution of nursing to palliative care, the current study aims to identify and analyze the nursing theories used in Palliative Care research. The methodology was a literature review of investigation articles published between 1994 and 2014 in the databases Pubmed, CINAHL, B-on, Cuiden, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Embase. Fifteen articles from 6 countries that used 10 different theories were found. The grand theory was the most used type of theory and the Humanistic Nursing Theory was the most used theory. We conclude that there is no consensus surrounding the utilization of one unique theory in Palliative Nursing. It is considered that the use of different theories in different contexts and different populations can contribute to a sustained reflection. There needs to be more studies developed in this context with a theoretical background.

Background: The narrow link between practice, education, and research is essential to palliative care development. In Portugal, academic postgraduate publications are the main booster for palliative care research. Methods: This is a bibliometric study that aims to identify Portuguese palliative care postgraduate academic work published in electronic academic repositories between 2000 and 2015. Results: 488 publications were identified. The number of publications has increased, especially in the last five years. The most frequently used method was quantitative, healthcare professionals were the most studied participants, and psychological and psychiatric aspects of care comprised the most current theme. Practice-based priorities are financial costs and benefits of palliative care, awareness and understanding of palliative care, underserved populations, best practices, communication, and palliative care in nonhospital settings. Conclusion: The number of palliative care postgraduate academic publications has increased in Portugal in the past few years. There is academic production in the eight domains of quality palliative care and on the three levels of recommendation for practice-based research priorities. The major research gaps in Portugal are at the system and societal context levels.

To assess the satisfaction with life and health-related quality of life of patients with dementia living in the community. Design/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was administered to 50 subjects identified in the community. Instruments used included the EQ-5D, Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and Barthel Index (BI). Findings: It is possible to use a self-report approach with EQ-5D and SWLS as assessment measures in the Portuguese community context. EQ-5D average score was 0,43 points and EQ-VAS average score was 56,04 points. SWLS average score was 17,32 points. BI average score was 13,82 points. Originality/value: This study is the first to assess the health-related quality of life of patients with the dementia exclusively in the Portuguese community context.