Patient admission

The experience of nursing home (NH) admission has a significant impact on older adults and their relatives. The aim of the current study is to describe the life experiences of female family caregivers (N = 20) after long-stay NH admission of their relative. A qualitative phenomenological approach was followed with purposeful sampling. Data were collected over 18 months using unstructured interviews, letters, and diaries and were analyzed using systematic text condensation analysis.

Background. Despite 30 years of research attention, discharge planning and district nurse (DN) referral remain problematic and few cancer-related publications exist. With shorter hospitalizations, discharged cancer patients and their carers may experience unmet needs for assessment, information and support. Although DN referral might enable patient/carer needs to be met, the DN role lacks clarity.

Aim. To investigate the needs of people with cancer, and their lay carers during discharge from hospital to home, and identify the role of DNs in meeting these needs.

The aim of this study was to help develop support services for carers of people with dementia on admission to a district general hospital. Qualitative methodology was used in the form of individual semi-structured interviews. These interviews suggest that service developments need to take into account the individual need of each carer. Identified themes included communication, vulnerability of the carers and the need to develop a therapeutic relationship with the carer as well as the person with dementia.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a practical, easily implemented, educational intervention in group format for informal carers of persons with dementia. Methods: Multi-centre, randomised, controlled, single-blind trial involving 292 family caregivers of patients with moderate dementia in Alzheimer's disease. Results: Participants valued program components which had a practical impact on their caring role. The intervention achieved minor effects on the participants' psychological quality of life and did not reduce carer depression.