Aims This thesis aimed to establish links between symptoms of common mental disorder in care-givers of patients with advanced disease and their subsequent experience of bereavement. r aimed to explore whether factors such as social support, family cohesion and religious beliefs which are probably protective against poor outcomes in care-giving, retain their protective effect during bereavement. Methods r conducted a cohort study. Informal carers of patients receiving palliative care at two hospices in South London were invited to participate. Carers were interviewed shortly after the patient was referred to the hospice (T1), using standardized assessment tools including the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R) and the Zarit Burden Interview. I also assessed carers' levels of social support, religious/spiritual beliefs, family relations, coping strategies and work and social adjustment as well as the patients' mood and quality of life. Interviews were repeated at 3 months and 6 months following the death of the care recipient using the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R), the Bereavement Phenomenology Questionnaire (BPQ) and the Quality of Death (QPD) scale. Results Of the] 00 carers who were interviewed at baseline, 46 carers agreed to be interviewed at T2 (three months post death) and 50 carersagreed to be interviewed at T3 (six months post death). Carers who suffered from more symptoms of common mental disorder while caring for their loved were at a higher risk of poor mental health outcomes at three and six months following the death of their loved one. Carers whose practical support needs were not met while caring for their loved one were more likely to experience symptoms of common mental disorder at six months post death. Conclusions This study demonstrates that it is possible to follow carers through to bereavement in a palliative care setting, however research in this context is highly challenging. The research suggests that much psychological distress detected during care-giving continues into bereavement. This has implications for the way in which caregivers are supported in this setting.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:582528 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Kapari, Maria-Dionysia |
| Publisher | King's College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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