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The significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-COVID-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home: a qualitative study

PURPOSE: 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...

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Autores principales: Wind, Gitte, Vedsegaard, Helle Wendner, Marsaa, Kristoffer, True, Trine Solander, Konradsen, Hanne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9397423/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35979626
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2022.2113021
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author Wind, Gitte
Vedsegaard, Helle Wendner
Marsaa, Kristoffer
True, Trine Solander
Konradsen, Hanne
author_facet Wind, Gitte
Vedsegaard, Helle Wendner
Marsaa, Kristoffer
True, Trine Solander
Konradsen, Hanne
author_sort Wind, Gitte
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSION: 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.
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spelling pubmed-93974232022-08-24 The significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-COVID-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home: a qualitative study Wind, Gitte Vedsegaard, Helle Wendner Marsaa, Kristoffer True, Trine Solander Konradsen, Hanne Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being Empirical Studies PURPOSE: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSION: 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. Taylor & Francis 2022-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9397423/ /pubmed/35979626 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2022.2113021 Text en © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Empirical Studies
Wind, Gitte
Vedsegaard, Helle Wendner
Marsaa, Kristoffer
True, Trine Solander
Konradsen, Hanne
The significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-COVID-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home: a qualitative study
title The significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-COVID-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home: a qualitative study
title_full The significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-COVID-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home: a qualitative study
title_fullStr The significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-COVID-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home: a qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed The significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-COVID-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home: a qualitative study
title_short The significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-COVID-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home: a qualitative study
title_sort significance of the covid-19 pandemic for family caregivers of non-covid-19 patients in need of specialized palliative care at home: a qualitative study
topic Empirical Studies
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9397423/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35979626
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2022.2113021
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