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Identifying socio-environmental factors that facilitate resilience among Canadian palliative family caregivers: A qualitative case study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2013

Melissa Giesbrecht ,
Faye Wolse ,
Valorie A. Crooks  and
Kelli Stajduhar
Melissa Giesbrecht*
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Faye Wolse
Affiliation:
University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Valorie A. Crooks
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Kelli Stajduhar
Affiliation:
University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Melissa Giesbrecht, Simon Fraser University, Department of Geography, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada. E-mail: mgiesbre@sfu.ca
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Abstract

Objective:

In Canada, friends and family members are becoming increasingly responsible for providing palliative care in the home. This is resulting in some caregivers experiencing high levels of stress and burden that may ultimately surpass their ability to cope. Recent palliative care research has demonstrated the potential for caregiver resilience within such contexts. This research, however, is primarily focused on exploring individual-level factors that contribute to resilience, minimizing the inherent complexity of this concept, and how it is simultaneously influenced by one's social context. Therefore, our study aims to identify socio-environmental factors that contribute to palliative family caregiver resilience in the Canadian homecare context.

Methods:

Drawing on ethnographic fieldnotes and semistructured interviews with family caregivers, care recipients, and homecare nurses, this secondary analysis employs an intersectionality lens and qualitative case study approach to identify socio-environmental factors that facilitate family caregivers' capacity for resilience. Following a case study methodology, two cases are purposely selected for analysis.

Results:

Findings demonstrate that family caregiver resilience is influenced not only by individual-level factors but also by the social environment, which sets the lived context from which caregiving roles are experienced. Thematic findings of the two case studies revealed six socio-environmental factors that play a role in shaping resilience: access to social networks, education/knowledge/awareness, employment status, housing status, geographic location, and life-course stage.

Significance of Results:

Findings contribute to existing research on caregiver resilience by empirically demonstrating the role of socio-environmental factors in caregiving experiences. Furthermore, utilizing an intersectional approach, these findings build on existing notions that resilience is a multidimensional and complex process influenced by numerous related variables that intersect to create either positive or negative experiences. The implications of the results for optimizing best homecare nursing practice are discussed.

Keywords

Family caregiversResilienceEthnographySocial environmentPalliative
Type
Original Articles
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , June 2015 , pp. 555 - 565
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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