Luker, K., Cooke, M., Dunn, L., Lloyd-Williams, M., Pilling, M., & Todd, C. (2015). Development and evaluation of an intervention to support family caregivers of people with cancer to provide home-based care at the end of life: A feasibility study. European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 19, 154–161.
To design and evaluate an intervention to address caregiver information and needs when providing end of life care, and to evaluate the intervention for acceptability among caregivers and healthcare professionals, assessing the feasibility of healthcare workers adopting this as daily practice, and assessing its impact on caregiver burden, satisfaction, competence, and preparedness
The study was divided into two interventions. Phase 1 was comprised of interviewing caregivers about the need for practical information, support skills, and their preference on the form in which information should be delivered (identified as a booklet). Phase 2 evaluated the booklet used through validated questionnaires.
This was a mixed-method feasibility study with a convenience sample. Quantitative surveys were collected at recruitment and four to six weeks after initial recruitment. Qualitative data using semistructured interviews and structured personal diaries, logs, and interviews were collected.
This study demonstrated benefits from the booklet intervention on caregivers’ appraisal of caregiving. In addition, the study highlighted practical issues regarding the timing of the intervention delivery. A randomized control trial would be more effective in furthering the initial positive results identified by this study.
Additional effort should be made to adopt an intervention like this into everyday practice to improve both patient and caregiver quality of life outcomes. Nurses can assist in identifying at-risk caregivers earlier in the disease trajectory so the intervention can be initiated earlier on in palliative care.