Articles: caregivers.
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Family caregivers play a key role in palliative home care for persons with advanced cancer. Although research has shown numerous burdens and strains of family caregiving, there is a lack of family-oriented support strategies in palliative home care. Little is known about family caregivers' self-management in this context so far. Qualitative research provides insight into families' perspectives of the transition to and management of palliative care at home and can be used as a starting point. ⋯ Self-management strategies may provide a key for supporting family caregivers in palliative home care by focusing on resources and problem solving skills of families.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Sep 2014
Review Meta AnalysisEfficacy and experiences of telephone counselling for informal carers of people with dementia.
Informal carers of people with dementia can suffer from depressive symptoms, emotional distress and other physiological, social and financial consequences. ⋯ There is evidence that telephone counselling can reduce depressive symptoms for carers of people with dementia and that telephone counselling meets important needs of the carer. This result needs to be confirmed in future studies that evaluate efficacy through robust RCTs and the experience aspect through qualitative studies with rich data.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jun 2014
Review Meta AnalysisPsychological interventions for individuals with cystic fibrosis and their families.
With increasing survival estimates for individuals with cystic fibrosis, long-term management has become an important focus. Psychological interventions are largely concerned with adherence to treatment, emotional and social adaptation and health-related quality of life. We are unaware of any relevant systematic reviews. ⋯ Currently, insufficient evidence exists on psychological interventions or approaches to support people with cystic fibrosis and their caregivers, although some of the studies were promising. Due to the heterogeneity between studies, more of each type of intervention are needed to support preliminary evidence. Multicentre studies, with consequent funding implications, are needed to increase the sample size of these studies and enhance the statistical power and precision to detect important findings. In addition, multicentre studies could improve the generalisation of results by minimizing centre or therapist effects. Psychological interventions should be targeted to illness-specific symptoms or behaviours to demonstrate efficacy.
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Palliative medicine · May 2014
Review Meta AnalysisExploring the financial impact of caring for family members receiving palliative and end-of-life care: a systematic review of the literature.
Research regarding the economic dimensions of palliative care is relatively limited. The economic implications of providing informal care are well recognised; however, within the context of palliative care, little is known about the costs and implications of providing care for a loved one at the end of life. ⋯ This review identified a significant gap in the evidence base regarding the economic implications of providing care to a family member within a palliative care context. Economic costs and implications are likely to be significant, and research to address this gap is urgently needed, particularly given policy initiatives in a number of developed countries to move the provision of palliative and end-of-life care from hospital to community settings.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2014
Review Meta AnalysisFamily and carer smoking control programmes for reducing children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
Children's exposure to other people's cigarette smoke (environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS) is associated with a range of adverse health outcomes for children. Parental smoking is a common source of children's exposure to ETS. Older children are also at risk of exposure to ETS in child care or educational settings. Preventing exposure to cigarette smoke in infancy and childhood has significant potential to improve children's health worldwide. ⋯ While brief counselling interventions have been identified as successful for adults when delivered by physicians, this cannot be extrapolated to adults as parents in child health settings. Although several interventions, including parental education and counselling programmes, have been used to try to reduce children's tobacco smoke exposure, their effectiveness has not been clearly demonstrated. The review was unable to determine if any one intervention reduced parental smoking and child exposure more effectively than others, although seven studies were identified that reported motivational interviewing or intensive counselling provided in clinical settings was effective.