Dimensions of privacy in palliative care: views of health professionals

This paper explores the dimensions of privacy evident in the views of practice of health professionals in different inpatient palliative care settings. Eighty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with doctors, nurses and pastoral carers at 12 Australian regional and metropolitan locations. Transcribed interviews were coded and discursively content analysed. Privacy was one category that emerged in the transcript analysis. Results showed the necessity of attending to the physical, psycho-social and moral dimensions of privacy in the provision of palliative care that respects dignity, autonomy and supportive social relationships.