Clinical Implications for Supporting Caregivers at the End-of-Life: Findings and from a Qualitative Study

Despite families providing considerable care at end of life, there are substantial gaps in the provision of supportive care. A qualitative interview study was conducted with 17 caregivers of people supported by an adult hospice to explore the support needs of families. Family members readily identified the ways in which the diagnosis of a life-limiting illness impacted on them and the family as a whole, not just the patient. Implications for practice demonstrate the need to intervene at a family and relational level prior to bereavement, in order to mitigate complicated grief for the surviving family members. Such an approach offers a fruitful prospective alternative to supporting caregivers post-bereavement.