Healthcare professionals' engagement in palliative care for patients with mental disorders: a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.

BACKGROUND

Palliative care offers solace, mitigates pain, and enhances quality of life. However, individuals with mental diseases have inadequate access to palliative care and encounter various barriers during the process. As the need for palliative care is expected to rise significantly in the future, palliative care must be considered a global health priority for healthcare professionals to upgrade care quality. This study aims to synthesize qualitative evidence on healthcare professionals' experience of providing palliative care for patients with mental disorders, so as to identify relevant obstacles and facilitators and provide evidence reference for developing targeted intervention schemes.

DESIGN

A systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.

METHODS

Qualitative studies focusing on healthcare professionals' experience of providing palliative care for patients with mental disorders were retrieved from Chinese and English databases from database inception to April 2025. The quality of included literature was assessed by the JBI qualitative research quality evaluation standard, and convergent meta-synthesis was adopted to integrate relevant findings.

RESULTS

A total of 1258 studies were identified through database research, and 11 studies were incorporated into the review. Three analytical themes emerged from the findings:perceptions toward palliative care including; multi-level barriers in implementing palliative care and suggestions for improving palliative care services.

CONCLUSION

Healthcare professionals show various perceptions and face complex practical obstacles when providing palliative care for individuals with mental disorders. Healthcare professionals must address cognitive biases and manage multidisciplinary competency deficiencies in routine care. Simultaneously, the promotion of tiered training, systematic service enhancement, and standardized interdisciplinary collaboration is essential to refine the service system, ensuring high-quality and dignified palliative care for patients with mental disorders.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view, identifier CRD420251021339.