Patients : education

For community nurses, the first step in ensuring a carer's wellbeing is to be mindful of not adding to the person's burden themselves. To create and maintain safe and effective care for patients relies on collaboration between nurses and the families and carers, which may involve nurses delegating caring duties to a carer. But, in line with the professional code, this should only happen if the carer is competent, supervised, supported, and understands the task, its complexity and expected outcomes (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2015).

There is a growing recognition that the carers of cancer patients require information. A key source of this information is the formal health care system that patients, and thus carers, encounter. However, the research literature suggests a lack of clarity on the part of service providers concerning the type, amount, timing and purpose of information for carers. This lack of clarity is reflected in the ways carers have been ‘tacked on’ to patients and thus are often treated as co-clients.

Caregivers need certain knowledge and skills both to provide the best possible care and to protect their own well-being.

Background: Although informal end-of-life care is associated with significant physical and psychological morbidity for caregivers, few interventions have been developed to meet these needs. This study aimed to identify existing coping and support mechanisms among informal cancer caregivers in order to inform intervention development.

Method: One-to-one semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with 20 informal cancer caregivers of home palliative care patients.

Literature review of issues which are of importance to informal carers of people with terminal illness. The advantages and disadvantages of caring for a dying relative and carers' need for information and support are discussed. 4 case studies and a list of useful resources for carers are included and recommendations are made for nursing care. 

Aging baby boomers, longer life spans, and rising levels of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) will result in a caregiver crisis in the near future. The ways in which caregivers deal with stresses related to caregiving will be critical to both their own well-being and their ability to care for others. The purpose of this article is to describe the Stress-Busting Program (SBP) for family caregivers and its effectiveness. The essential components of the SBP are education, stress management, problem solving, and support delivered in a group setting for 9 weeks.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Learn Now; Live Well (LNLW) educational programme on enhancing the knowledge and support of caregivers living with a life-threatening illness.

Design: A combined summative and formative evaluation design was used. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a questionnaire with a five-point response scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree and semi-structured interviews.

Informal carers provide important emotional support to patients having chemotherapy and assistance in monitoring and managing side-effects. If they are inadequately supported in this, patient and carer morbidity may result. This study explored needs of informal carers supporting patients with cancer having chemotherapy. The study used a mixed methods approach. Carers of colorectal or lymphoma cancer patients at one comprehensive cancer centre participated. Questionnaire data informed semi-structured interviews conducted with a subsample of respondents.

3rd in a series of 5 articles on informal carers in the UK, focusing on carers who may be more isolated.