Qualitative research

Objectives: This study will explore how help is constructed during and following radiotherapy for patients with cancer.

Methods: Grounded theory methods were used in the study to explore the way in which family members and friends constructed a role for themselves in relation to patients receiving radiotherapy. A total of 22 helpers were interviewed. Patients were being treated for a range of cancers including breast, prostate, colorectal, and head and neck.

Objectives: Health and social care services are increasingly reliant on informal caregivers to provide long-term support to stroke survivors. However, caregiving is associated with elevated levels of depression and anxiety in the caregiver that may also negatively impact stroke survivor recovery.

Informal caregivers play an increasingly important and demanding role in providing and ensuring long-term care for elders. To date, few studies have qualitatively explored the challenges and coping strategies adopted by informal caregivers of dependent elders from lower-income households in Singapore. Based on data from in-depth interviews with 19 respondents, this study provides detailed and nuanced accounts of the lived experiences of low-income informal caregivers.

Background: Despite being a common event in the course of an advanced cancer illness, there is little understanding of patients' perceptions of hospital Emergency Department presentations.; Aim: To explore the experiences and perceptions of Emergency Departments held by patients with advanced cancer and their informal caregivers.; Design: Cross-sectional study involving semi-structured interviews with advanced cancer patients and their informal caregivers.

Aims and Objective: To explore the experiences of community patients living with a urethral catheter and those caring for them.; Background: Living at home with an indwelling urethral catheter often results in consequences that create a double-edged burden: first, on patients and their relative carers and second, in terms of unscheduled community nurse service "out-of-hours" provision.; Design: One-to-one interviews were conducted with patients living at home, their relative carers, qualified community nurses, augmented home carers and heal

Background and Objectives: Assisted living (AL) is a popular residential long-term care option for frail older adults in the United States. Most residents have multiple comorbidities and considerable health care needs, but little is known about their health care arrangements, particularly over time. Our goal is to understand how health care is managed and experienced in AL by residents and their care network members.; Research Design and Methods: This grounded theory analysis focuses on the delivery of health care in AL.

Objective: Research is required in order to illustrate and detail the experiences of informal caregivers of patients with motor neurone disease (pwMND) to further advance the research base and to inform the development of future support structures and services. Due to the heterogeneous nature of caregiving for pwMND, one way in which this can be achieved is through a qualitative review. A qualitative thematic analysis of existing qualitative studies has not, to the best of the authors' knowledge, been previously undertaken.

Background/objective: Informal caregivers of patients with advanced cancer experience a challenging time, especially while caring for the patient at home. The aim of this study is to compare experiences, perceived burdens, and needs during home care of informal caregivers of brain tumor patients and informal caregivers of non-brain tumor patients.; Methods: 28 informal caregivers (17 brain tumor group, 11 non-brain tumor group) participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather information retrospectively.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the support needs of Dutch informal caregivers of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).; Method: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 caregivers of ALS patients. Audio-taped interviews were transcribed and data were analyzed thematically. Result A total of four global support needs emerged: "more personal time", "assistance in applying for resources", "counseling", and "peer contact".

Dementia is one of the main causes of disability later in life. Interventions in support of patients with dementia aim at granting the highest level of independence in activities of daily living and at delivering the required facilities; formal and informal caregivers represent the interface between patients and health services. The aims of our study were to assess caregivers' perceived needs and to relate them to their own socio-cultural features and to patients' clinical characteristics.