Vol. 30 No. Sup (2026): Pensar Enfermagem - Journal of Nursing Special Issue
Abstracts

Perspectives of palliative care professionals on an oral hygiene intervention: a qualitative exploratory descriptive study

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  • Ricardo Serra,
  • Henrique Luis,
  • Margarida Quezada,
  • Federico Herrera,
  • Helena Arco
Ricardo Serra
Department of Health Sciences and Technologies, Polytechnic University of Portalegre, Portalegre, Portugal; University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal; Lisbon School of Nursing, Lisbon, Portugal; CARE – Research Center on Health and Social Sciences, Portalegre, Portugal
Henrique Luis
University of Lisbon, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Biomedical and Oral Sciences Research Unit (UICOB), Lisboa, Portugal; Rede de Higienistas Orais para o Desenvolvimento da Ciência (RHODes), Lisbon, Portugal; Center for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechcare), Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria, Portugal
Margarida Quezada
Department of Health Sciences and Technologies, Polytechnic University of Portalegre, Portalegre, Portugal; CARE – Research Center on Health and Social Sciences, Portalegre, Portugal
Federico Herrera
Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Helena Arco
Department of Health Sciences and Technologies, Polytechnic University of Portalegre, Portalegre, Portugal; CARE – Research Center on Health and Social Sciences, Portalegre, Portugal; Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC), University of Évora, Évora, Portugal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.71861/pensarenf.v30iSup.514

Published 2026-04-08

Keywords

  • Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing; Oral Hygiene; Palliative Care; Signs and Symptoms; Terminally Ill

How to Cite

Serra, R., Luis, H., Quezada, M., Herrera, F., & Arco, H. (2026). Perspectives of palliative care professionals on an oral hygiene intervention: a qualitative exploratory descriptive study. Pensar Enfermagem, 30(Sup). https://doi.org/10.71861/pensarenf.v30iSup.514

Copyright (c) 2026 Ricardo Serra, Henrique Luis, Margarida Quezada, Federico Herrera, Helena Arco

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Introduction

Based on previous research a team of nurses, oral hygienist and dentist, designed an oral hygiene care intervention to manage oral symptoms in patients with cancer receiving specialist palliative care. Stakeholder involvement is required to better understand their perspectives on the intervention as well as the context where it will be applied.

Objective

To characterize the perspectives and suggestions of specialist palliative care nurses on the proposed oral hygiene care intervention.

Methods

A qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive study was conducted. Eleven nurses from five palliative care inpatient services in Portugal participated in two synchronous online focus group. Two physicians participated in individual interviews. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and the generated dataset was subjected to reflexive thematic analysis following a deductive approach.

Results

Three themes were generated from the dataset. Participants consider that the components of the proposed symptom management strategy are adequate to the context and patients that is aimed at. Participants consider that the nurses from their units might adhere to the proposed symptom management strategy. The proposed symptom management strategy might have several possible outcomes, related to the symptom status or indicators sensitive to changes in the symptom status.

Conclusion

Participants considered the proposed oral hygiene care intervention to be adequate for their context of work. Participants recognize the intervention as being evidence based and perceived it as an improvement of current oral hygiene care practices.

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