Objectives: General palliative care (PC) is provided more at home, leading to increased involvement of relatives. Although support for relatives is a fundamental component of PC, there are deficiencies in the support provided to relatives when general PC is provided at home. This study aimed to describe the support provided by health professionals before and after a patient's death to relatives involved in general PC at home.

Methods: A cross-sectional register study was implemented, with data from the Swedish Register of Palliative care. The sample consisted of 160 completed surveys from relatives who had been involved in general PC at home, with 160 related surveys answered by health professionals. Only the questions about support to relatives were used from the surveys.

Results: The findings showed that although many relatives appear to receive support in general PC at home, not all relatives receive optimal support before or after a patient's death. The findings also indicated differences in whether relatives received some support before and after a patient's death depending on the type of relative. There were also differences in responses between health professionals and relatives regarding if relatives received counseling from a doctor about whether the patient was dying.

Significance of results: There is potential for improvements regarding support for relatives, especially after a patient's death, which has been confirmed in previous studies. The differences in whether relatives received support before and after a patient's death depending on the type of relative highlight the need for future research on how to support different types of relatives before and after a patient's death when general PC is provided at home.

Introduction: The efforts of relatives in providing palliative care (PC) at home are important. Relatives take great responsibility, face many challenges and are at increased risk of poor physical and mental health. Support for these relatives is important, but they often do not receive the support they need. When PC is provided at home, the support for relatives before and after a patient's death must be improved. This study aimed to describe relatives' suggestions to improve the support from health professionals (HPs) before and after a patient's death in general PC at home.

Methods: This study had a qualitative descriptive design based on the data from open-ended questions in a survey collected from the Swedish Register of Palliative Care. The respondents were adult relatives involved in general PC at home across Sweden. The textual data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results: The analysis identified four themes: (1) seeking increased access to HPs, (2) needing enhanced information, (3) desiring improved communication and (4) requesting individual support.

Conclusions: It is important to understand and address how the support to relatives may be improved to reduce the unmet needs of relatives. The findings of this study offer some concrete suggestions for improvement on ways to support relatives. Further research should focus on tailored support interventions so that HPs can provide optimal support for relatives before and after a patient's death when PC is provided at home.

Background: Relative's efforts are essential when palliative care is provided at home and support from healthcare professionals is needed. Despite this, since the support provided varies, relatives may have unmet support needs. Many people receive general palliative care at home rather than specialised care, and nurses play a significant role in supporting relatives. This study aimed to explore registered nurses' experiences of supporting relatives before and after a patient's death when general palliative care is provided at home.

Methods: This study used a qualitative explorative design. Data were collected through focus group interviews with 18 registered nurses in home care in Sweden and were analysed using content analysis. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist was used for explicit reporting.

Results: The findings are presented in four categories with subcategories: receiving support to provide support, continuously providing understandable information, balancing different needs and building relationships facilitates safety and identifying needs.

Conclusions: Even if registered nurses support relatives to some extent, they rarely reflect on the support they provide and lack structure in providing support both before and after the patient's death. The findings showed inadequacies in support after the patient's death, which is also emphasised in previous studies. The findings also showed deficiencies in routines, local guidelines and checklists as well as in training and education on how to support relatives when palliative care is provided at home, thereby risking that relatives' needs remain unmet. This highlights the need for creating routines and developing detailed local guidelines and checklists on providing support to relatives both before and after the patient's death.

Background: Relatives play a crucial role when palliative care is provided at home. More advanced care at home places higher demands on relatives, taking great responsibility, facing challenges, and often lacking adequate knowledge and skills to provide care. Therefore, relatives need support from healthcare professionals, yet do not receive the needed support. This study aimed to elucidate relatives' experiences of support from healthcare professionals before and after a patient's death when general palliative care is provided at home.

Methods: A phenomenological hermeneutical method was used. The inclusion criteria were relatives of people who had died, involved in general palliative care at home. The sample consisted of 14 adult relatives involved in general palliative care at home between one week and 12 months. Data were collected through individual interviews between January and May 2025.

Results: Relatives needed to be seen as they felt left out; they felt an overwhelming responsibility; they needed to feel safe at home through guidance from and access to healthcare professionals; they felt the need to know what was happening and what to expect; and they needed help in processing the grief both before and after the patient's death. These themes formed the main theme: Standing next to but not being part of.

Conclusions: The findings of this study showed a lack of support for relatives before and after the patient's death but offer insights into what support relatives need from HCPs when general PC is provided at home. Relatives need to feel seen, informed and prepared, to feel safe when care is provided at home, and not feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of the situation. As research continuously reveals that relatives have unmet support needs, this highlights the need for tailored interventions and the targeting of available support actions for improved support. Since relatives play a crucial role in palliative care at home, continued work with education and training for relatives should be prioritised to support them in feeling prepared, obtaining necessary caregiving knowledge and skills, enabling them to cope with the situation at home.