Reducing the psychological distress of family caregivers of home based palliative care patients: Longer term effects from a randomised controlled trial
Psycho-Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Background: Palliative care incorporates comprehensive support of family caregivers because many of them experience burden and distress. However, evidence-based support initiatives are few. Purpose: We evaluated a one-to-one psychoeducational i...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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John Wiley and Sons Ltd
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20888 |
| _version_ | 1848750435951706112 |
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| author | Hudson, P. Trauer, T. Kelly, B. O'Connor, Moira Thomas, K. Zordan, R. Summers, M. |
| author_facet | Hudson, P. Trauer, T. Kelly, B. O'Connor, Moira Thomas, K. Zordan, R. Summers, M. |
| author_sort | Hudson, P. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Psycho-Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Background: Palliative care incorporates comprehensive support of family caregivers because many of them experience burden and distress. However, evidence-based support initiatives are few. Purpose: We evaluated a one-to-one psychoeducational intervention aimed at mitigating the distress of caregivers of patients with advanced cancer receiving home-based palliative care. We hypothesised that caregivers would report decreased distress as assessed by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Method: A randomised controlled trial comparing two versions of the delivery of the intervention (one face-to-face home visit plus telephone calls versus two visits) plus standard care to a control group (standard care only) across four sites in Australia. Results: Recruitment to the one visit condition was 57, the two visit condition 93, and the control 148. We previously reported non-signi fi cant changes in distress between times 1 (baseline) and 2 (1-week post-intervention) but signifi cant gains in competence and preparedness. We report here changes in distress between times 1 and 3 (8-week post-death). There was significantly less worsening in distress between times 1 and 3 in the one visit intervention group than in the control group; however, no significant difference was found between the two visit intervention and the control group. Conclusions: These results are consistent with the aim of the intervention, and they support existing evidence demonstrating that relatively short psychoeducational interventions can help family caregivers who are supporting a dying relative. The sustained benefit during the bereavement period may also have positive resource implications, which should be the subject of future inquiry. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:36:48Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-20888 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:36:48Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | John Wiley and Sons Ltd |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-208882019-03-28T06:23:34Z Reducing the psychological distress of family caregivers of home based palliative care patients: Longer term effects from a randomised controlled trial Hudson, P. Trauer, T. Kelly, B. O'Connor, Moira Thomas, K. Zordan, R. Summers, M. Psycho-Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Background: Palliative care incorporates comprehensive support of family caregivers because many of them experience burden and distress. However, evidence-based support initiatives are few. Purpose: We evaluated a one-to-one psychoeducational intervention aimed at mitigating the distress of caregivers of patients with advanced cancer receiving home-based palliative care. We hypothesised that caregivers would report decreased distress as assessed by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Method: A randomised controlled trial comparing two versions of the delivery of the intervention (one face-to-face home visit plus telephone calls versus two visits) plus standard care to a control group (standard care only) across four sites in Australia. Results: Recruitment to the one visit condition was 57, the two visit condition 93, and the control 148. We previously reported non-signi fi cant changes in distress between times 1 (baseline) and 2 (1-week post-intervention) but signifi cant gains in competence and preparedness. We report here changes in distress between times 1 and 3 (8-week post-death). There was significantly less worsening in distress between times 1 and 3 in the one visit intervention group than in the control group; however, no significant difference was found between the two visit intervention and the control group. Conclusions: These results are consistent with the aim of the intervention, and they support existing evidence demonstrating that relatively short psychoeducational interventions can help family caregivers who are supporting a dying relative. The sustained benefit during the bereavement period may also have positive resource implications, which should be the subject of future inquiry. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20888 10.1002/pon.3610 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ John Wiley and Sons Ltd fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Hudson, P. Trauer, T. Kelly, B. O'Connor, Moira Thomas, K. Zordan, R. Summers, M. Reducing the psychological distress of family caregivers of home based palliative care patients: Longer term effects from a randomised controlled trial |
| title | Reducing the psychological distress of family caregivers of home based palliative care patients: Longer term effects from a randomised controlled trial |
| title_full | Reducing the psychological distress of family caregivers of home based palliative care patients: Longer term effects from a randomised controlled trial |
| title_fullStr | Reducing the psychological distress of family caregivers of home based palliative care patients: Longer term effects from a randomised controlled trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reducing the psychological distress of family caregivers of home based palliative care patients: Longer term effects from a randomised controlled trial |
| title_short | Reducing the psychological distress of family caregivers of home based palliative care patients: Longer term effects from a randomised controlled trial |
| title_sort | reducing the psychological distress of family caregivers of home based palliative care patients: longer term effects from a randomised controlled trial |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20888 |