Eichorst Morgan K, Allen Rebecca S, Halli-Tierney Anne D, Scogin Forrest, Kvale Elizabeth A
a Department of Psychology , Alabama Research Institute on Aging, The University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa , Alabama , USA.
b College of Community Health Sciences and Alabama Research Institute on Aging , The University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa , Alabama , USA.
J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care. 2015;11(3-4):346-66. doi: 10.1080/15524256.2015.1116484.
Informal caregivers for older adults often act as medical 'proxies' based on their assumed knowledge of the care recipient's illness-related symptoms. Differences between symptom descriptions given by care recipients and caregivers, however, raise questions about the validity of proxy reports. Community-dwelling caregivers and their care recipients with chronic, multi-morbid conditions revealed similar numbers of symptoms reported as well as average symptom distress. Dyads with care recipients who scored higher on negative affect were more likely to have significantly lower. Results suggested the possibility of identifying and intervening with dyads who may be 'at-risk' for divergent symptom reporting. This awareness may increase the ability to engage in informed and shared medical decision making throughout the illness trajectory.
老年人的非正式护理者常常基于他们对护理对象疾病相关症状的假定了解而充当医疗“代理人”。然而，护理对象和护理者给出的症状描述之间的差异引发了关于代理人报告有效性的疑问。居住在社区的护理者及其患有慢性、多种疾病的护理对象报告的症状数量以及平均症状困扰程度相似。护理对象在消极情绪方面得分较高的配对，其得分显著较低的可能性更大。结果表明，有可能识别并干预那些在症状报告差异方面“存在风险”的配对。这种认识可能会提高在整个疾病过程中进行明智且共同的医疗决策的能力。
