Honoring the voices of bereaved caregivers: a Metasummary of qualitative research

BMC Palliative Care

Research Article

Lorraine Holtslander¹  Agatha Ogunkorode²  Shelley Peacock²  Sharon Baxter³  Wendy Duggleby⁴  Peter Hudson⁵  Sarah Bocking⁶  Tina Dadgostari⁷  Kelly Mills⁸  Vicky Duncan⁹ 

[1] College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Rm 4216, E-Wing Health Sciences, 104 Clinic Place, S7N 2Z2, Saskatoon, SK, Canada;University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada;Executive Director of the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association, Ottawa, ON, Canada;Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada;Palliative Care c/o St. Vincent’s Hospital and Collaborative Centre of the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia;Palliative Care, Queen’s University, Northern Ireland, UK;RA, College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada;RA, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada;RA; College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada;University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada;

关键词: Bereavement;    Family caregiver;    Palliative care;    Qualitative;    Metasummary;    Support;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12904-017-0231-y

 received in 2016-11-11, accepted in 2017-08-31,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFamily caregiving in the context of advanced disease in particular, can be physically and emotionally taxing. Caregivers can subsequently face bereavement exhausted with few supports, limited resources and a significant proportion will develop negative psychological and social outcomes. Although some research has attended to the bereavement experiences of family caregivers who had cared for a person requiring palliative care, a comprehensive qualitative understanding of the impact of caregiving on bereavement has not been articulated. The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative metasummary to explore the experiences of bereaved family caregivers of people who received palliative care services, regardless of their underlying disease.MethodsSandelowski and Barroso’s qualitative metasummary method was utilized: 1287 articles were identified through extensive database searches (i.e. – MEDLINE, PsychINFO, and CINAHL) and reviewed to determine if they fit the criteria. Those included in the review were assessed for study quality. Findings from each study were then thematically coded and a frequency of themes was calculated.ResultsThe sample consisted of 47 qualitative studies. A total of 15 themes emerged. In descending order of frequency, the 15 themes were: the individual emotions of serenity, sadness, guilt, uncertainty, trauma, escape, and anger; post-loss experiences that helped the caregiver in bereavement; post-loss experiences that hindered; practical life changes; caregiver role identity; pre-loss experiences that helped; pre-loss experiences that hindered; caregiver context; and a need for different kinds of supports. Three key findings emerged from the themes: (1) many different aspects of the caregiving experience impact the bereavement experience, (2) every bereavement experience is unique, and (3) a variety of supports must be developed and made available to caregivers to meet these unique needs.ConclusionsBased on the metasummary findings, changes are needed in practice and policy to ensure the health and well-being of the family caregiver is maintained by offering support both during caregiving and bereavement.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017