This paper outlines a qualitative study undertaken to describe the indicators that families of the terminally ill perceive to be important in the care of the patient and themselves. This study is the first phase of a three-phase project designed to develop a tool to measure family perceptions of the quality of palliative care. Twenty families of patients being cared for on a palliative care ward were asked to describe the patient's illness experience and identify the things that were important in the care of the patient and family. There were 74 caregiver behaviours identified that were important to patient care, and 77 behaviours were identified as important to family care. The list of these behaviours is reported, and these findings are discussed in relation to results in similar studies.
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