Faculty of Health, University College Copenhagen, Denmark.
Arresoedal Hospice, Denmark.
Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2022 Dec;17(1):2113021. doi: 10.1080/17482631.2022.2113021.
It is well known that being a family caregiver of a palliative patient in general is rewarding as well as burdensome. The COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated this situation. We therefore explored the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-COVID-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home.
Open-ended, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 15 family caregivers of patients treated by a specialized palliative outpatient unit in a Danish hospital. Interviews were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.
Four themes concerning the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic were identified: 1) being a family caregiver of a patient whose lifespan is already limited, 2) dealing with the risk of passing on COVID-19 oneself, 3) dealing with the risk of others passing on COVID-19 to the patient at home, and 4) living with modified specialized palliative care.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a radical impact on some family caregivers causing emotional despair. They feared not only infecting the patient with SARS-CoV-2 to cause an untimely death but also being unable to be there for the patient during hospitalization, especially in the patient's final days.
众所周知，一般来说，照顾绝症患者的家属既有回报，也有负担。COVID-19 大流行可能使这种情况恶化。因此，我们探讨了 COVID-19 大流行对需要在家中接受专门姑息治疗的非 COVID-19 患者的家庭照顾者的意义。
对丹麦一家医院专门的姑息治疗门诊单位治疗的 15 名患者的家庭照顾者进行了开放式、半结构式电话访谈。使用归纳主题分析对访谈进行分析。
确定了与 COVID-19 大流行意义相关的四个主题：1）作为绝症患者的家属，患者的寿命已经有限，2）自身感染 COVID-19 的风险，3）家中其他人将 COVID-19 传染给患者的风险，4）接受经过调整的专门姑息治疗。
COVID-19 大流行对一些家庭照顾者产生了重大影响，导致他们情绪绝望。他们不仅担心 SARS-CoV-2 感染患者会导致过早死亡，还担心在患者住院期间无法陪伴在患者身边，尤其是在患者的最后几天。
