The Impact of Receiving a Family-Oriented Therapeutic Conversation Intervention Before and During Bereavement Among Family Cancer Caregivers

Abstract

Effective communication is the foundation of quality care in palliative nursing. As frontline palliative home care providers, nurses could foster more effective bereavement coping skills through therapeutic conversations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a nursing intervention offered to bereaved family cancer caregivers. This was a quasi-experimental design, with a posttest-only comparison of the intervention and control groups receiving usual care. Bereaved caregivers (n = 51) receiving services from a specialized palliative home care unit participated and completed measures of depression, anxiety, stress, and grief reactions 3, 5, and 6 months after their close relative had died. There was a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms in the intervention group compared with the control group across all 3 time points. Anxiety and stress symptoms also decreased over time in the 2 groups combined, but this decrease was not observed for depression. When evaluating grief reactions, the intervention group had a lower mean of controlled grief responses, across the posttest period, than the control group. Results demonstrate that providing bereaved family caregivers the opportunity to participate in a therapeutic conversation intervention might reduce distressing symptoms in early bereavement.

Long-Term Effect of Receiving a Family Strengths-Oriented Intervention on Family Cancer Caregiver Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Symptoms: A Longitudinal Quasi-Experimental Study

“…The current longitudinal study investigates the long-term effects of the intervention on depression, anxiety, and stress levels after providing two sessions before and one session after the death of a family member with advanced cancer. The intervention was delivered simultaneously in two separate clinical trials (Petursdottir et al, 2020; Petursdottir & Svavarsdottir, 2019). For each trial, there were two intervention sessions delivered in the pre-loss trial, and one session was delivered in the post-loss trial.…”

“…The FAM-SOTC intervention provided post-loss, which targets the aftermath of a loss, focused on supporting the cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains of the bereaved family caregivers experience in the early bereavement phase (Petursdottir et al, 2020). The adverse effects on family caregivers in these domains following a death due to cancer are well documented in the literature.…”

“…The intervention was facilitated by the same advanced practice palliative care nurse via face-to-face conversations in the home of the bereaved family caregiver. The rationale for each component of the intervention and content of both the pre- and post-loss intervention sessions is recorded in a detailed manual (Petursdottir et al, 2020; Petursdottir & Svavarsdottir, 2019).…”

“…In addition, Cronbach’s alpha scores were also computed for each of the three subscales, and their internal consistency and reliability were confirmed. The Cronbach’s alpha scores were also computed and reported for the three subscales in both the clinical trials (Petursdottir et al, 2020; Petursdottir & Svavarsdottir, 2019).…”

Intervenciones Realizadas en Los Cuidadores De Adultos Com Condiciones Crónicas Em El Cuidado Domiciliario: Revisión Integradora

“…Quanto a abordagem adotada nos estudos, 26 eram do tipo quantitativa 13,[15][16][17][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]33,36,[39][40][41][42][43]46,48,50 , sete qualitativa 12,32,[34][35][37][38]44 e seis de abordagem mista 14,[18][19]45,47,49 .…”