DiGiacomo Michelle, Hatano Yutaka, Phillips Jane, Lewis Joanne, Abernethy Amy P, Currow David C
1 Centre for Cardiovascular and Chronic Care, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia.
2 Discipline, Palliative and Supportive Services, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Palliat Med. 2017 May;31(5):465-474. doi: 10.1177/0269216316663855. Epub 2016 Aug 8.
Globally, most care for people with life-limiting illnesses is provided by informal caregivers. Identifying characteristics of caregivers that may have unmet needs and negative outcomes can help provide better support to facilitate adjustment.
We compared characteristics, expressed unmet needs and outcomes for spousal caregivers, with other caregivers at the end of life, by gender and age.
The South Australian Health Omnibus is an annual, random, face-to-face, cross-sectional survey wherein respondents are asked about end-of-life care.
SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Participants were aged over 15 years, resided in households in South Australia and had someone close to them die from a terminal illness in the last 5 years.
Of the 1540 respondents who provided hands-on care for someone close at the end of life, 155 were widows/widowers. Bereaved spousal caregivers were more likely to be older, female, better educated, have lower incomes, less full-time work, English as second language, sought help with grief and provided more day-to-day care for longer periods. Spousal caregivers were less likely to be willing to take on caregiving again, less able to 'move on' with life and needed greater emotional support and information about illness and services. The only difference between widows and widowers was older age of spouse in women. Younger spousal caregivers perceived greater unmet emotional needs and were significantly less likely to be able to 'move on'.
Spousal caregivers are different from other caregivers, with more intense needs that are not fully met. These have implications for bereavement, health and social services.
在全球范围内，大多数为患有绝症的人提供的护理是由非正式护理人员提供的。识别可能存在未满足需求和负面结果的护理人员特征，有助于提供更好的支持以促进调整。
我们按性别和年龄比较了配偶护理人员与其他临终护理人员的特征、未满足需求的表达及结果。
南澳大利亚综合健康调查是一项年度随机面对面横断面调查，其中会询问受访者有关临终护理的情况。
设置/参与者：参与者年龄超过15岁，居住在南澳大利亚的家庭中，并且在过去5年中有亲近的人死于绝症。
在1540名在临终时为亲近的人提供实际护理的受访者中，有155人是寡妇/鳏夫。丧偶的配偶护理人员更有可能年龄较大、为女性、受教育程度较高、收入较低、全职工作较少、将英语作为第二语言、寻求悲伤方面的帮助并且长期提供更多的日常护理。配偶护理人员再次承担护理工作的意愿较低，在生活中更难“向前看”，并且需要更多的情感支持以及有关疾病和服务的信息。寡妇和鳏夫之间唯一的区别是女性配偶的年龄更大。年轻的配偶护理人员认为情感需求未得到满足的程度更高，并且能够“向前看”的可能性显著更低。
配偶护理人员与其他护理人员不同，他们有更强烈且未得到充分满足的需求。这对丧亲之痛、健康和社会服务都有影响。
