Supporting the Mental Health Of Palliative Caregivers : A Literature Study

Abstract

Caregiving is a considerably challenging role, Palliative caregivers have responsibilities to provide optimal care services that otherwise would be received from the/a health care center. Therefore, caregiving comes with its challenges Family caregivers aren’t always prepared for these challenges ahead, thus leading to more psychological difficulties and isolation of caregivers during the care. There has been considerably much research on palliative care patients however, not as much on the caregivers hence the aim of the research is to shed light on the psychological effect of informal palliative caregivers, emphasizing on how they manage or cope with the emotional strains. Furthermore, what kind of support they require and is available to them from health care, especially nurses. The research questions in focus are (1) What are the psychological difficulties experienced by palliative care givers? (2) What support is available for promoting Palliative care giver’s mental well-being? (3) What is the nurses’ role in supporting informal palliative caregivers? The study was a literature review with an inductive content analysis.

The theory of Transactional model of Stress & copping and cognitive appraisal by Lazarus & Folkman was used to explore the connection between palliative caregiver's psychological distress and the appraisal and coping mechanism. Results indicate that caregivers display psychological problems and their mental well-being is impaired also there is availability of support to some degree but caregivers may lack the information and the knowledge on how to access the support needed.