Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2013
Family caregiver learning--how family caregivers learn to provide care at the end of life: a qualitative secondary analysis of four datasets.
Family caregivers are assuming growing responsibilities in providing care to dying family members. Supporting them is fundamental to ensure quality end-of-life care and to buffer potentially negative outcomes, although family caregivers frequently acknowledge a deficiency of information, knowledge, and skills necessary to assume the tasks involved in this care. ⋯ Findings inform areas for future research to identify effective, individualized programs and interventions to support positive learning experiences for family caregivers of dying people.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2013
Living with breathlessness: a survey of caregivers of breathless patients with lung cancer or heart failure.
Breathlessness is a common, distressing symptom in patients with advanced disease. With increasing focus on home death for patients, carers are expected to support breathless people at home. Little is known about how carers experience breathlessness and the differences in caring for someone with breathlessness and malignant or non-malignant disease. ⋯ Those who care for breathless patients report high levels of unmet needs and burden, equally severe for heart failure and lung cancer caregivers. Caregivers of patients with more severe breathlessness report fewer positive caring experiences and should be targeted by services with increased support in managing this symptom.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2013
Family caregiver satisfaction with home-based nursing and physician care over the palliative care trajectory: results from a longitudinal survey questionnaire.
A limited understanding of satisfaction with home-based palliative care currently exists. ⋯ The results may inform key health policy issues. Specifically, knowledge of how quality of care parameters predict family caregivers' satisfaction over the course of the palliative care trajectory may aid managers responsible for resource allocation and the determination of home care standards.
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Palliative medicine · Jul 2013
Spouse caregivers of people with advanced dementia in nursing homes: a longitudinal narrative study.
Dementia is a life limiting illness and is becoming a major cause of death in developed countries. Many people with dementia die in nursing homes or long-term residential care settings. Spouse caregivers of people with dementia living in nursing homes find themselves in a position which is difficult to understand and live with. ⋯ Nursing home staff need to acknowledge spouse carers in their own right, inviting them to tell their stories. We recommend that communication skills be included in educational programmes for nursing home staff. Further research is needed to determine the shape and context of carer needs assessment and support, as recommended in health policy.