Washington, Karla

Context: Hospice is a service for those with a life expectancy of six months or less. Family caregivers suffer from depression and anxiety as they care for their loved one until they die. Little is known about how research participants decide to consent to participate in clinical trials in the hospice setting. Objectives: This pilot study sought to answer two research questions: 1) In what way do demographic characteristics, mental health, and perceived caregiving experience impact the decision by caregivers to participate in hospice clinical trials?

The study objective was to develop and test a new survey instrument that measures caregiver-centered communication. We developed a questionnaire inspired by the National Cancer Institute framework on patient-centered communication, focusing on family caregiver communication for this tool. The questionnaire includes 5 subscales: exchange of information, relationship with team, emotions, managing care, and decision-making. The initial questionnaire was reviewed by domain experts for face validity and edited further to include 30 items.

Objectives: To describe the current evidence of studies examining the use of information technology for family caregivers of persons with cancer.

Objectives: Family caregivers of hospice patients have multiple needs as they try to cope during a stressful time. Translatable interventions effective in improving caregiver outcomes are greatly needed.

End-of-life caregiving is a highly stressful experience often fraught with conflict and tension. However, little is known about the ways family conflict manifests for informal caregivers of home hospice patients (IHCs). Framed by relational dialectics theory, the purpose of this study was to provide nurses and other health care professionals with an empirical understanding of how IHCs experience family conflict and tensions associated with caregiving. A second aim was to determine what strategies IHCs use to manage these family conflicts.

Context: Family caregivers (FCGs) of hospice cancer patients face significant challenges related to pain management.