Family members

Background: A cross-sectional survey was performed on the family members of disabled stroke survivors, those who are both the patient's medical authorizer and caregiver,to identify the sources of the caring stress and inform appropriate interventions.; Methods: A total of 242 family members of stroke patients, who were treated in a tertiary geriatric hospital in Haikou, the capital city of Hainan Province, were enrolled in the current study by using convenience sampling.

Advance care planning for people with dementia has become a focus of dementia care policies in developed countries. In New Zealand, the framework for dementia care relies on the person with dementia having a level of competence to enable them to participate in the planning process. For people with dementia, it may be too late to initiate these discussions in terms of decision-making capacity. Consequently, decisions about end-of-life care for people with dementia are typically made by a family member who acts as a surrogate decision maker on behalf of the person with dementia.

Purpose : In this qualitative interview study we investigated the experiences of family members to cancer patients. Our objective was to explore and to differentiate their needs from the needs of cancer patients. Methods : Five focus groups and six individual narrative interviews with 17 family members to cancer patients in Sweden were conducted and compared with 19 cancer patient interviews. Our analysis was inspired by classic grounded theory.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and feelings of people caring for patients with long-term diseases in a rehabilitation centre. A qualitative research approach was used. Fifteen informal carers were interviewed. The study was conducted in a rehabilitation centre in Greece. Three themes emerged. The first was feelings regarding the patient and the carers themselves, as well as the type of care provided and life at home after discharge from the rehabilitation unit. The second was experiences regarding health professionals and delivered care, and other carers.

Background Learning disability services must include the people who use them (individuals and their families/carers) in service commissioning, planning and delivery (Department of Health 2012. Transforming care: A national response to Winterbourne View Hospital. Department of Health review: Final report). One group of important stakeholders in learning disability services are the family members and carers of people with a learning disability.

Context: Spiritual distress contributes to patients' and families' experiences of care. Objectives: To map the literature on how seriously ill patients and their family members experience spiritual distress within inpatient settings.

Introduction: Traumatic events are of high incidence and affect not only the patient but also their family members, causing psychological problems such as stress and anxiety for caregivers of these patients. Therefore, the application of appropriate coping strategies by them seems necessary in order to promote mental health. Aim: To study the relationship of anxiety with coping strategies in family caregivers of trauma patients.

Family members are often the primary caregiver for autistic adults and this responsibility may impact on the carer's wellbeing and quality of life. 109 family members of autistic adults completed an online survey assessing their wellbeing relating to their caring role for their autistic relative. Family members who were supporting an autistic relative with co-occurring mental health difficulties and who they reported as unprepared for the future, self-reported higher levels of worry, depression, anxiety and stress, and poorer quality of life.

Payments for care, by which people in need of long-term care directly employ care workers, have been introduced in many European countries. In The Netherlands, care dependants are allowed to use these payments to hire relatives to perform care tasks. Care-givers who are employed by their relatives are in a hybrid position, because they are contracted as employees in the informal setting of a family home and its affective care relationships. This paper reports a qualitative study of relatives' experiences of payments for care and how these affect their care-giving.