Effect of caregiving at end of life on grief, quality of life and general health: A prospective, longitudinal, comparative study
© The Author(s) 2019. Background: Determining the effect of caregiving and bereavement remains a challenge. To date, no study has employed a comparison group to investigate caregivers’ grief, quality of life and general health in relation to non-caregivers. Aim: We aimed to determine how caregivers’...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
2019
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/77346 |
| _version_ | 1848763840514228224 |
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| author | Breen, Lauren Aoun, S. O’Connor, Moira Johnson, Andrew Howting, D. |
| author_facet | Breen, Lauren Aoun, S. O’Connor, Moira Johnson, Andrew Howting, D. |
| author_sort | Breen, Lauren |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | © The Author(s) 2019. Background: Determining the effect of caregiving and bereavement remains a challenge. To date, no study has employed a comparison group to investigate caregivers’ grief, quality of life and general health in relation to non-caregivers. Aim: We aimed to determine how caregivers’ grief, quality of life and general health changed following death compared to non-caregivers and whether pre-death grief predicted these outcomes. Design: A prospective, longitudinal study of family caregivers and a comparison group matched for age, gender and postcode was conducted. All participants completed questionnaires at four points – once pre-death and three times post-death (3–4 months, 6–7 months and 9–10 months). Setting/participants: Participants (N = 70) were family caregivers of persons receiving palliative care, mostly for cancer, recruited from three palliative care providers in Western Australia and matched comparisons recruited from advertisements. Results: There were significant differences between the caregivers’ and comparisons’ grief, general health and quality of life at pre-death, 3–4 months and 6–7 months post-death, but not at 9–10 months post-death. The rate of progression in these constructs following death was independent from the intensity of pre-death grief. However, caregiver prolonged grief score significantly predicted prolonged grief score at 6–7 and 9–10 months post-death. Conclusion: It took 9–10 months for the caregivers’ grief, general health and quality of life to correspond to the comparison group. These findings present an opportunity for palliative care research and practice to consider how best to support the majority of caregivers without grief complications so that their pre- and post-death support needs are realised. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:09:51Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-77346 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:09:51Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-773462020-02-17T01:22:48Z Effect of caregiving at end of life on grief, quality of life and general health: A prospective, longitudinal, comparative study Breen, Lauren Aoun, S. O’Connor, Moira Johnson, Andrew Howting, D. Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Health Care Sciences & Services Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Medicine, General & Internal General & Internal Medicine Bereavement grief family caregivers palliative care quality of life BEREAVED FAMILY CAREGIVERS PROLONGED GRIEF COMPLICATED GRIEF PALLIATIVE CARE CANCER-PATIENTS TERMINALLY-ILL MENTAL-HEALTH RISK-FACTORS PREDICTORS SYMPTOMS © The Author(s) 2019. Background: Determining the effect of caregiving and bereavement remains a challenge. To date, no study has employed a comparison group to investigate caregivers’ grief, quality of life and general health in relation to non-caregivers. Aim: We aimed to determine how caregivers’ grief, quality of life and general health changed following death compared to non-caregivers and whether pre-death grief predicted these outcomes. Design: A prospective, longitudinal study of family caregivers and a comparison group matched for age, gender and postcode was conducted. All participants completed questionnaires at four points – once pre-death and three times post-death (3–4 months, 6–7 months and 9–10 months). Setting/participants: Participants (N = 70) were family caregivers of persons receiving palliative care, mostly for cancer, recruited from three palliative care providers in Western Australia and matched comparisons recruited from advertisements. Results: There were significant differences between the caregivers’ and comparisons’ grief, general health and quality of life at pre-death, 3–4 months and 6–7 months post-death, but not at 9–10 months post-death. The rate of progression in these constructs following death was independent from the intensity of pre-death grief. However, caregiver prolonged grief score significantly predicted prolonged grief score at 6–7 and 9–10 months post-death. Conclusion: It took 9–10 months for the caregivers’ grief, general health and quality of life to correspond to the comparison group. These findings present an opportunity for palliative care research and practice to consider how best to support the majority of caregivers without grief complications so that their pre- and post-death support needs are realised. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/77346 10.1177/0269216319880766 English SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Health Care Sciences & Services Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Medicine, General & Internal General & Internal Medicine Bereavement grief family caregivers palliative care quality of life BEREAVED FAMILY CAREGIVERS PROLONGED GRIEF COMPLICATED GRIEF PALLIATIVE CARE CANCER-PATIENTS TERMINALLY-ILL MENTAL-HEALTH RISK-FACTORS PREDICTORS SYMPTOMS Breen, Lauren Aoun, S. O’Connor, Moira Johnson, Andrew Howting, D. Effect of caregiving at end of life on grief, quality of life and general health: A prospective, longitudinal, comparative study |
| title | Effect of caregiving at end of life on grief, quality of life and general health: A prospective, longitudinal, comparative study |
| title_full | Effect of caregiving at end of life on grief, quality of life and general health: A prospective, longitudinal, comparative study |
| title_fullStr | Effect of caregiving at end of life on grief, quality of life and general health: A prospective, longitudinal, comparative study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effect of caregiving at end of life on grief, quality of life and general health: A prospective, longitudinal, comparative study |
| title_short | Effect of caregiving at end of life on grief, quality of life and general health: A prospective, longitudinal, comparative study |
| title_sort | effect of caregiving at end of life on grief, quality of life and general health: a prospective, longitudinal, comparative study |
| topic | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Health Care Sciences & Services Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Medicine, General & Internal General & Internal Medicine Bereavement grief family caregivers palliative care quality of life BEREAVED FAMILY CAREGIVERS PROLONGED GRIEF COMPLICATED GRIEF PALLIATIVE CARE CANCER-PATIENTS TERMINALLY-ILL MENTAL-HEALTH RISK-FACTORS PREDICTORS SYMPTOMS |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/77346 |