Development of the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT) to identify family carers struggling with caring for someone dying at home: a mixed method consensus study

BACKGROUND: There is an increasing international policy direction to promote home death for dying patients which will impact on the demands placed on family carers. The early identification of carer needs and appropriate intervention can help avoid crisis situations for the carer and avoidable hospi...

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Autores principales: Knighting, Katherine, O’Brien, Mary R, Roe, Brenda, Gandy, Rob, Lloyd-Williams, Mari, Nolan, Mike, Jack, Barbara A
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4427956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25935715
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12904-015-0010-6
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author Knighting, Katherine
O’Brien, Mary R
Roe, Brenda
Gandy, Rob
Lloyd-Williams, Mari
Nolan, Mike
Jack, Barbara A
author_facet Knighting, Katherine
O’Brien, Mary R
Roe, Brenda
Gandy, Rob
Lloyd-Williams, Mari
Nolan, Mike
Jack, Barbara A
author_sort Knighting, Katherine
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: There is an increasing international policy direction to promote home death for dying patients which will impact on the demands placed on family carers. The early identification of carer needs and appropriate intervention can help avoid crisis situations for the carer and avoidable hospital admissions which are reported to be a global concern. The aim of the study was to explore what professionals and carers of patients with cancer and advanced progressive illness, in their last year of life, find burdensome and to develop an alert system for use by non-specialist staff. METHODS: A mixed-method, multi-phased, consensus study sequentially utilising qualitative and quantitative data to develop and pilot the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT). 245 people (117 carers and 128 professionals) participated in the study across a range of health and social care settings in the North West of England (2011–2014). RESULTS: A number of key domains were identified and prioritised by consensus for inclusion in the CAT. The 8 domains fit within two overarching themes of the reported carer experience; the support needed by the carer to provide care and the support needed for the carer’s own health and well-being. The resultant CAT is an evidence-based alert thermometer consisting of 10 questions, guidance on the possible actions for each alert and space for an action plan to be jointly agreed by the assessor and carer. Preliminary piloting of the CAT has shown it to be valued, fit for purpose and it can be administered by a range of personnel. CONCLUSIONS: The CAT enables the identification of current and potential future needs so a proactive approach can be taken to supporting the carer as their role develops over time, with a view to enhancing their well-being and preventing avoidable hospital admissions; ultimately supporting patient choice to remain in their own home.
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spelling pubmed-44279562015-05-13 Development of the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT) to identify family carers struggling with caring for someone dying at home: a mixed method consensus study Knighting, Katherine O’Brien, Mary R Roe, Brenda Gandy, Rob Lloyd-Williams, Mari Nolan, Mike Jack, Barbara A BMC Palliat Care Research Article BACKGROUND: There is an increasing international policy direction to promote home death for dying patients which will impact on the demands placed on family carers. The early identification of carer needs and appropriate intervention can help avoid crisis situations for the carer and avoidable hospital admissions which are reported to be a global concern. The aim of the study was to explore what professionals and carers of patients with cancer and advanced progressive illness, in their last year of life, find burdensome and to develop an alert system for use by non-specialist staff. METHODS: A mixed-method, multi-phased, consensus study sequentially utilising qualitative and quantitative data to develop and pilot the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT). 245 people (117 carers and 128 professionals) participated in the study across a range of health and social care settings in the North West of England (2011–2014). RESULTS: A number of key domains were identified and prioritised by consensus for inclusion in the CAT. The 8 domains fit within two overarching themes of the reported carer experience; the support needed by the carer to provide care and the support needed for the carer’s own health and well-being. The resultant CAT is an evidence-based alert thermometer consisting of 10 questions, guidance on the possible actions for each alert and space for an action plan to be jointly agreed by the assessor and carer. Preliminary piloting of the CAT has shown it to be valued, fit for purpose and it can be administered by a range of personnel. CONCLUSIONS: The CAT enables the identification of current and potential future needs so a proactive approach can be taken to supporting the carer as their role develops over time, with a view to enhancing their well-being and preventing avoidable hospital admissions; ultimately supporting patient choice to remain in their own home. BioMed Central 2015-05-03 /pmc/articles/PMC4427956/ /pubmed/25935715 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12904-015-0010-6 Text en © Knighting et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Knighting, Katherine
O’Brien, Mary R
Roe, Brenda
Gandy, Rob
Lloyd-Williams, Mari
Nolan, Mike
Jack, Barbara A
Development of the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT) to identify family carers struggling with caring for someone dying at home: a mixed method consensus study
title Development of the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT) to identify family carers struggling with caring for someone dying at home: a mixed method consensus study
title_full Development of the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT) to identify family carers struggling with caring for someone dying at home: a mixed method consensus study
title_fullStr Development of the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT) to identify family carers struggling with caring for someone dying at home: a mixed method consensus study
title_full_unstemmed Development of the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT) to identify family carers struggling with caring for someone dying at home: a mixed method consensus study
title_short Development of the Carers’ Alert Thermometer (CAT) to identify family carers struggling with caring for someone dying at home: a mixed method consensus study
title_sort development of the carers’ alert thermometer (cat) to identify family carers struggling with caring for someone dying at home: a mixed method consensus study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4427956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25935715
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12904-015-0010-6
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