Helping family caregivers of palliative care patients manage their role: evaluation of a hospital based group education intervention

Family caregivers want information that prepares them for what is involved in supporting a dying relative, on how to provide patient comfort, practical care needs and strategies to minimise their own psychological burden. Our study specifically responds to these identified needs by developing and evaluating a group education program in an in-patient setting for family caregivers of palliative care patients to help them manage their caregiving role. Each education program will involve approximately six family caregivers; it will be conducted very soon after their relative has been admitted to the palliative care unit. The program will be of two hours duration (including time for data collection) and will be facilitated by a suitably qualified health professional. Written resources will be provided and caregivers will be given the opportunity to meet with staff from the multidisciplinary team. Referrals for scheduled consultations will be made where relevant. The program will be comprehensively evaluated via pre-test post-test design.

Helping family caregivers of palliative care patients manage their role: evaluation of a hospital based group education intervention (19kb pdf).