Journal of pain and symptom management
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For many hospice caregivers, the constancy and difficulty of caregiving impact their physical quality of life and cause depression, psychological distress, guilt, loneliness, and restrictions on social activities. ⋯ By examining the reciprocal nature of suffering for caregivers, this study reinforced the need for assessing caregivers in hospice care, with specific emphasis on the importance of providing caregiver education on pain management.
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The literature predominately describes hospice utilization among Medicare recipients, with a limited number of reports describing use among all age groups. ⋯ In addition to revealing racial, geographic, and other disparities in hospice care across Alabama, our results indicate usage rates in Alabama trail behind those observed nationally. We also identified previously unreported interactions between race, urbanization level, and poverty classification. Future studies should explore whether such relationships exist elsewhere and the rationale for their occurrence.