Ham Laurien, Fransen Heidi P, van Roij Janneke, van den Borne Ben, Creemers Geert Jan, Hendriks Mathijs P, Kuip Evelien, van Laarhoven Hanneke W M, van Leeuwen Lobke, van der Padt-Pruijsten Annemieke, Smilde Tineke, Stellingwerf Margriet, van Zuylen Lia, van de Poll-Franse Lonneke, Raijmakers Natasja J H
Department of Research & Development, Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organization (IKNL), Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Netherlands Association for Palliative Care (PZNL), Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Psychooncology. 2022 Oct;31(10):1719-1727. doi: 10.1002/pon.6031. Epub 2022 Sep 18.
The death of a loved one is considered to be the most stressful of all life events. However, the impact of bereavement on quality of life varies between individuals. The aim of our study was to assess emotional functioning (EF), which is a domain of quality of life, of bereaved relatives after the death of their loved one and its associated factors.
A prospective, longitudinal, multicenter, observational study on quality of care and quality of life of patients with advanced cancer and their relatives was conducted (eQuiPe). The association between EF of relatives during bereavement and the following factors was investigated: gender, type of relationship, educational level, pre-bereavement emotional and social functioning and global quality of life, social support pre- and during bereavement, anticipatory complicated grief, support of healthcare professionals during bereavement, age of patient and bereaved relative and duration of survival after primary cancer diagnosis.
150 bereaved relatives completed the bereavement questionnaire. In 41% of the bereaved relatives EF was ≤71, indicating clinically relevant low EF. Multivariable logistic regression showed that females experienced more often emotional problems (OR = 2.82). Emotional functioning pre-bereavement (OR = 0.96) and social support during bereavement (OR = 0.97) were associated with low EF during bereavement.
Almost half of the bereaved relatives of patients with advanced cancer experienced low EF and this was associated with low EF pre-bereavement and low social support during bereavement. Support for relatives should be initiated before the patient's death. Future research is needed to investigate the impact of such support on relatives' wellbeing during bereavement.
亲人离世被认为是所有生活事件中压力最大的。然而，丧亲之痛对生活质量的影响因人而异。我们研究的目的是评估亲人离世后丧亲亲属的情绪功能（这是生活质量的一个方面）及其相关因素。
开展了一项关于晚期癌症患者及其亲属的护理质量和生活质量的前瞻性、纵向、多中心观察性研究（eQuiPe）。研究了丧亲期间亲属的情绪功能与以下因素之间的关联：性别、关系类型、教育水平、丧亲前的情绪和社会功能以及总体生活质量、丧亲前和丧亲期间的社会支持、预期性复杂性悲伤、丧亲期间医护人员的支持、患者和丧亲亲属的年龄以及原发性癌症诊断后的生存时间。
150名丧亲亲属完成了丧亲问卷。41%的丧亲亲属情绪功能≤71，表明情绪功能在临床上处于较低水平。多变量逻辑回归显示，女性更常出现情绪问题（比值比=2.82）。丧亲前的情绪功能（比值比=0.96）和丧亲期间的社会支持（比值比=0.97）与丧亲期间较低的情绪功能相关。
晚期癌症患者的丧亲亲属中近一半情绪功能较低，这与丧亲前情绪功能低和丧亲期间社会支持不足有关。应在患者死亡前就开始为亲属提供支持。需要进一步研究来调查这种支持对丧亲期间亲属幸福感的影响。
