The Hospice journal
-
The Hospice journal · Jan 2001
Comparative StudyFamily caregiving in hospice: effects on psychological and health functioning among spousal caregivers of hospice patients with lung cancer or dementia.
Caregiving stress has been found to lead to depression and poor health among caregivers compared with age-matched non-caregiving controls. However, most of these studies have focused on dementia caregivers, and have not included hospice caregivers. The aim of this project was to assess the impact of caregiving stress on psychological and health functioning among spousal caregivers of hospice patients, in contrast to demographically matched non-caregiving controls. A secondary aim was to compare the caregiving stressors and psychological and health functioning between spousal caregivers of hospice patients with dementia versus lung cancer. ⋯ While family caregivers of hospice patients with dementia and lung cancer face very different objective stressors, the negative psychological and health impacts on the caregiver are marked and comparable across diagnosis. Hospice family caregivers are at high risk for both psychological and physical health disorders, and caregiver depression and health problems should be systematically assessed and treated by the hospice team.