Dataset Information

Family carers providing support to a person dying in the home setting: A narrative literature review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

This study is based on people dying at home relying on the care of unpaid family carers. There is growing recognition of the central role that family carers play and the burdens that they bear, but knowledge gaps remain around how to best support them.

Aim

The aim of this study is to review the literature relating to the perspectives of family carers providing support to a person dying at home.

Design

A narrative literature review was chosen to provide an overview and synthesis of findings. The following search terms were used: caregiver, carer, 'terminal care', 'supportive care', 'end of life care', 'palliative care', 'domiciliary care' AND home AND death OR dying.

Data sources

During April-May 2013, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Pubmed, Cochrane Reviews and Citation Indexes were searched. Inclusion criteria were as follows: English language, empirical studies and literature reviews, adult carers, perspectives of family carers, articles focusing on family carers providing end-of-life care in the home and those published between 2000 and 2013.

Results

A total of 28 studies were included. The overarching themes were family carers' views on the impact of the home as a setting for end-of-life care, support that made a home death possible, family carer's views on deficits and gaps in support and transformations to the social and emotional space of the home.

Conclusion

Many studies focus on the support needs of people caring for a dying family member at home, but few studies have considered how the home space is affected. Given the increasing tendency for home deaths, greater understanding of the interplay of factors affecting family carers may help improve community services.

SUBMITTER: Morris SM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4436280 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Family carers providing support to a person dying in the home setting: A narrative literature review.

Morris Sara M SM King Claire C Turner Mary M Payne Sheila S

Palliative medicine 20150129 6

<h4>Background</h4>This study is based on people dying at home relying on the care of unpaid family carers. There is growing recognition of the central role that family carers play and the burdens that they bear, but knowledge gaps remain around how to best support them.<h4>Aim</h4>The aim of this study is to review the literature relating to the perspectives of family carers providing support to a person dying at home.<h4>Design</h4>A narrative literature review was chosen to provide an overvie ...[more]

PMID: 25634635

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Project description:Aims and objectivesTo provide guidance to nurses by examining how critical care nurses perceive and perform the family support person role during resuscitation.BackgroundNurses can serve as family support person when families witness a loved one's resuscitation. However, few studies have examined the role of family support person to provide nurses with sufficient knowledge to enact the role.DesignAn exploratory-descriptive qualitative design with individual, semi-structured interviews.MethodsSixteen critical care nurses who had served as family support person completed interviews. The data were analysed by thematic analysis. COREQ guidelines were followed.ResultsSix themes were identified: Hard but Rewarding Role, Be With, Assess, First Moments, Explain and Support. Findings explicated nurses' perceptions of the role and key role activities.ConclusionsNurses perceived the role as hard but rewarding. Role challenges included the need for quick, accurate assessments and interventions to keep family members safe, informed and supported, while allowing them to witness resuscitation. Key role activities included: being fully present and compassionately attentive to family, continuously assessing family members, coordinating the first moments when family presence during resuscitation commences, explaining in simple, tailored terms the resuscitation activities, and supporting the family emotionally and psychologically through a variety of strategies. Nurses noted the high variability in how families respond and the complexity of simultaneously performing the multi-faceted role activities.Relevance to clinical practiceTo effectively support the growing global trend of family presence during resuscitation, nurses need the knowledge this study provides about how to fulfil the family support person role. Identifying the role activities may facilitate development of clinical guidelines and educational preparation for the role. Nurses can refine the many skills this role requires, building their competence and confidence, to increase opportunities for family members to experience family presence during resuscitation in a safe, and high-quality manner.

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Dataset Information

Family carers providing support to a person dying in the home setting: A narrative literature review.

Background

Aim

Design

Data sources

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Family carers providing support to a person dying in the home setting: A narrative literature review.

Similar Datasets

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