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Caregiver burden and bereavement among family caregivers who lost terminally ill cancer patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2019

Yong Tang Open the ORCID record for Yong Tang [Opens in a new window]
Yong Tang*
Affiliation:
Sociology Department, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
*
Author for correspondence: Yong Tang, Sociology Department, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China. E-mail: tangyong@szu.edu.cn
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Abstract

Objective

Family caregivers (FCs) in China provide hospice care to terminally ill cancer patients; however, few studies have been conducted in China on caregiver burden and bereavement experiences as a process that continues over time. The purpose of this study was to identify the main elements of caring and bereavement experiences for FCs caring for patients diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Method

Twenty in-depth qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with FCs providing care in a hospice unit in Shenzhen, Southern China. Interview transcripts were analyzed via thematic content analysis.

Result

A framework based on the following eight principal themes was developed through content analysis of our FC interviews: symptoms of the illness, the truth-telling process, attitudes toward death, the “color” of death, social and professional support, the moment of death, and grief and loss.

Significance of results

The analysis showed that caregiving may positively or negatively influence the bereavement process.

Keywords

caregiver burdenhospice carebereavementterminal cancerfamily caregiver
Type
Original Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 17 , Issue 5 , October 2019 , pp. 515 - 522
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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