Respite Tourism for Family Caregivers

Author(s):  
Robert Holda

One of the most misunderstood and unappreciated segments of society in relation to medical tourism is the family caregiver; those caring for a loved one who sacrifice their own employment schedule, their personal time for relaxing and recreation, and often and importantly their own health. The purpose of this chapter is to raise awareness of the plight of family caregivers as an issue for medical tourism, the effects of stress and burnout, and the essential need for respite of body, mind, and spirit for these central assistants in the matter of healthcare for patients. Though healthcare and its subset, medical tourism, are frequently perceived as focused on a “patient”, they also encompass many other individuals and organizations. As addressed here, the focus is on the family member caring for a loved one. The intent is to link the concept of medical tourism as an avenue for relaxation and respite to enhance the wellness of this specific target market.

Author(s):  
Robert Holda

One of the most misunderstood and unappreciated segments of society in relation to medical tourism is the family caregiver; those caring for a loved one who sacrifice their own employment schedule, their personal time for relaxing and recreation, and often and importantly their own health. The purpose of this chapter is to raise awareness of the plight of family caregivers as an issue for medical tourism, the effects of stress and burnout, and the essential need for respite of body, mind, and spirit for these central assistants in the matter of healthcare for patients. Though healthcare and its subset, medical tourism, are frequently perceived as focused on a “patient”, they also encompass many other individuals and organizations. As addressed here, the focus is on the family member caring for a loved one. The intent is to link the concept of medical tourism as an avenue for relaxation and respite to enhance the wellness of this specific target market.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003022282110244
Author(s):  
Júlia Camargo Contessa ◽  
Carolina Stopinski Padoan ◽  
Jéssica Leandra Gonçalves da Silva ◽  
Pedro V. S. Magalhães

The suicide of a loved one can be a traumatic experience. The objective of this study was to investigate trauma-related experiences of suicide survivors. This is a qualitative study with people who had recently lost a family member or a close one to suicide, conducted at least two months after the event. Forty-one participants agreed to take part in the study and were interviewed. The interviewees' perception was that suicide brought harm, symptoms, and suffering. Traumatic experiences can begin immediately after the event, with many reporting symptoms lasting many months and persistent impact, both personal and to the family. Postvention models after suicide should incorporate such findings, and investigate trauma consistently.


2020 ◽  
pp. bmjspcare-2020-002608
Author(s):  
Joaquín T Limonero ◽  
Jorge Maté-Méndez ◽  
María José Gómez-Romero ◽  
Dolors Mateo-Ortega ◽  
Jesús González-Barboteo ◽  
...  

BackgroundFamily caregivers of patients with advanced illness at end of life often report high levels of emotional distress. To address this emotional distress is necessary to have adequate and reliable screening tools.AimThis study analyses the psychometric properties and clinical utility of the Family Caregiver Emotional Detection Scale for caregivers of patients with end-stage cancer (DME-C, Spanish acronym) who are receiving palliative care (PC).DesignMulticentre, cross-sectional study.Settings/participantsFamily caregivers of patients with advanced cancer at end of life receiving palliative treatment were interviewed to explore their emotional distress through the DME-C scale and other instruments measuring anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)), distress thermometer (DT) and overload (B), as well as a clinical psychological assessment (CPA).Results138 family caregivers, 85 (61.6%) female and 53 (38.4%) male, with an average age of 59.69±13.3 participated in the study. The reliability of the scale, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha, was 0.76, and its stability over time was 0.734. Positive, significant correlations were found between the DME-C and the scores for anxiety and depression registered on the HADS scale, as well as with the total result of this latter scale and the results for B, the DT and the CPA. A statistical analysis of the receiver-operating characteristic curves showed that the scale has a sensitivity and specificity of 75%, and that the cut-off point for the detection of emotional distress was a score ≥11. Fifty-four per cent of the caregivers displayed emotional distress according to this scale.ConclusionsThe DME-C displays good psychometric properties. It is simple, short, reliable and easy to administer. We believe that the instrument is useful for the detection of emotional distress in the family caregivers of hospitalised patients suffering from end-stage illnesses and receiving PC.


Author(s):  
Dennis C. Daley ◽  
Antoine Douaihy

A family unit is a system in which various parts have an impact on other parts. This chapter looks at how families, concerned others, and friends are affected by a loved one’s SUD. Any family member may be hurt by a loved one with an SUD. The effects may vary among families and among members within the same family, but emotional pain and disruption of family life are common. Attention often centers on the member with the SUD, while overall family pain and distress are ignored. Individuals with SUDs often “underfunction,” which means that other members of the family have to pick up the slack and “overfunction.” This dynamic may change how family members communicate or relate to one another. The effects on families vary from mild to severe—in which a family is torn apart by an SUD.


2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER HUDSON

According to the World Health Organization, the patient and family should be viewed as the “unit of care” when palliative care is required. Therefore family caregivers should receive optimal supportive care from health professionals. However, the impact of supporting a dying relative is frequently described as having negative physical and psychosocial sequalae. Furthermore, family caregivers consistently report unmet needs and there has been a dearth of rigorous supportive interventions published. In addition, comprehensive conceptual frameworks to navigate the family caregiver experience and guide intervention development are lacking. This article draws on Lazarus and Folkman's seminal work on the transactional stress and coping framework to present a conceptual model specific to family caregivers of patients receiving palliative care. A comprehensive account of key variables to aid understanding of the family caregiver experience and intervention design is provided.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (03) ◽  
pp. 286-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neide P. Areia ◽  
Gabriela Fonseca ◽  
Sofia Major ◽  
Ana P. Relvas

AbstractObjectiveThe issues surrounding a patient's terminal phase of cancer and the imminent death of the individual represent a major family crisis affecting all its members. The goal of this study was to assess the prevalence of psychological morbidity in family caregivers of persons with terminal cancer in terms of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, somatization, and complicated anticipatory grief, and to determine which factors may influence these responses.MethodOne hundred and twelve family caregivers of individuals with terminal cancer completed an assessment protocol comprising the Brief Symptom Inventory (depression, anxiety, somatization, and a computed score for global distress), the Marwit-Meuser Caregiver Grief Inventory - Short Form (anticipatory grief), the Family Inventory of Needs (importance and satisfaction of needs), and the Systemic Clinical Outcome Routine Evaluation -15 (family functioning). Prevalence of psychological morbidity was determined through descriptive and frequency statistics. Predictors of psychological morbidity were ascertained through structural equation modelling methods.ResultRegarding the prevalence of psychological morbidity in family caregivers, 66.1% reported high levels of distress, 68.8% showed high risk of depression, 72.3% showed high risk of anxiety, 50.9% reported high levels of somatization, and 25.9% showed high risk of complicated anticipatory grief. It was found that the predictors of age, gender, relationship to the family member with terminal cancer, the caregiving role played (i.e., primary vs. nonprimary), the satisfaction of needs by healthcare professionals, and family functioning play an important role in terms of one's risk of developing psychological morbidity.Significance of resultsThis study revealed an alarming prevalence of psychological morbidity in family caregivers of individuals living with terminal cancer, making it crucial to move forward from a patient-centered approach to a family-centrad approach to reduce the risk of family maladjustment when facing the imminent death of a family member and to prevent postdeath unadjusted responses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S979-S979
Author(s):  
Patricia Egan

Abstract Dementia family caregivers are routinely enlisted as proxy assessors of care recipients’ quality of life (QOL). This study explored whether prompts to change perspective during QOL assessment could elicit an intra-proxy gap. The intra-proxy gap was hypothesized to be any difference between those assessments made from the caregiver’s own perspective and those made from the adopted perspective of the care recipient, as the care giver imagined it to be (Pickard and Knight, 2005). Thirty-six dementia family caregivers were recruited from senior service agencies. Subjects completed the Quality of Life-Alzheimer Disease (QOL-AD), Caregiver Version under two conditions: First, from an unprompted perspective and second, from the adopted perspective of the care recipient, as the family caregiver imagined it to be. T-testing indicated intra-proxy gaps emerged for eleven of the QOL-AD’s thirteen domains. For these domains, QOL scores were higher when assessed from the care recipient’s perspective, as the family caregiver imagined it to be. The sample was then repeatedly bisected using caregivers’ personal, relational, and health factors. T-testing indicated that family caregivers’ personal factors were associated with intra-proxy gaps across more QOL-AD domains than their relational or health factors were. Three personal factors, being of older age, having more empathetic concern, and having more empathetic distress, were associated with intra-proxy gaps more frequently than other personal factors were. Findings suggest that clinicians should be alert for perspective employed by proxy assessors and for the possibility of intra-proxy gaps. Recognition of these gaps could help improve interpretation of QOL scores.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa de Carli Coppetti ◽  
Nara Marilene Oliveira Girardon-Perlini ◽  
Rafaela Andolhe ◽  
Angélica Dalmolin ◽  
Steffani Nikoli Dapper ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze the relationship between the characteristics of patients in cancer treatment, their family caregivers, the care provided with the overload, as well as between overload and the care skills. Method: a cross-sectional study conducted at the chemotherapy and radiotherapy services of a university hospital in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) from March to August 2017, with 132 family caregivers of patients in cancer treatment. Data was collected by an instrument that characterizes patients, caregivers and care (the Brazilian version of the Caring Ability Inventory) and the Zarit Overload Scale. The following coefficients were used: Spearman correlation, Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis. Results: there was a significant relationship between the total overload and the patient’s level of dependence (p=0.021) and help from others (p=0.009). The “care impact” factor was significantly related with the patient’s level of dependence (p=0.006), the caregiver’s gender (p=0.035) and the care help (p=0.043). Regarding the “perception of self-efficacy” factor, there was a significant relationship involving the caregiver’s age (p=0.036) and, in the “caregiver expectation” factor, a significant relationship was observed with the care help (p=0.002). There was a significant and negative correlation between the total care skill and the overload factor related to interpersonal relationship (p=0.035); and between the “courage” dimension and the “perception of self-efficacy” (p=0.032) and “interpersonal relationship” (p=0.008) factors. Conclusion: the characteristics of the patient, the caregiver and the care provided influence the overload of the family caregiver, and this overload, in turn, interferes with the care skills. These results should be considered when planning interventions that aim to guide and prepare family caregivers for home care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-84
Author(s):  
Kristin G. Cloyes ◽  
Sara E. Hart ◽  
Ann Kuglin Jones ◽  
Lee Ellington

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