Poor sleep quality is prevalent in overweight and obese predominantly low-income pregnant women. Poor sleep quality was associated with worsening psychological distress, but mindfulness training significantly attenuated the influence of poor sleep on perceived stress.
The HRS provides one of the most comprehensive assessments of psychosocial stress in existing population-based studies and offers the potential for a deeper understanding of how psychosocial factors are related to healthy aging trajectories. The next generation of research examining stress and trajectories of aging in the HRS should test complex longitudinal and mediational relationships, include contextual factors in analyses, and include more collaboration between psychologists and population health researchers.
Background
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive, debilitating illness characterized by exacerbations that require timely intervention. COPD patients often rely on informal caregivers—relatives or friends—for assistance with functioning and support. Caregivers perform roles that may be particularly important during acute exacerbations in monitoring symptoms and seeking medical intervention. However, little is known about caregivers’ roles and experiences as they support their patients during exacerbations.
Purpose
To explore the experiences, roles in care seeking, and needs of caregivers during COPD exacerbations.
Methods
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 caregivers of Veterans with COPD who experienced a recent exacerbation. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using inductive content analysis.
Results
Five themes arose: (a) caregivers reported continuously monitoring changes in patients symptom severity to identify exacerbations; (b) caregivers described emotional reactions evoked by exacerbations and constant vigilance; (c) caregivers described disagreements with their patient in interpreting symptoms and determining the need for care seeking; (d) caregivers noted uncertainty regarding their roles and responsibilities in pursuing care and their approaches to promote care varied; and (e) expressed their need for additional information and support. Caregivers of patients with COPD often influence whether and when patients seek care during exacerbations. Discrepancies in symptom evaluations between patients and caregivers paired with the lack of information and support available to caregivers are related to delays in care seeking. Clinical practice should foster self-management support to patient–caregiver dyads to increase caregiver confidence and patient openness to their input during exacerbations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.