 Benefits of training family caregivers on experiences of closure during end-of-life care Caregiving at Life's End (CGLE) is a program for family caregivers caring for someone during the last years of life. The program focuses on the emotional, spiritual, and practical aspects of life and relationship completion and closure. This study evaluated the program's effectiveness in improving three major outcomes: comfort with caregiving, closure, and caregiver gain. Family caregivers (n=2,025) participated in programs facilitated by 142 health and human service professionals who completed a CGLE train-the-trainer workshop conducted by The Hospice Institute of the Florida Suncoast. The caregivers completed training rosters and pre- and/or post-surveys. Group differences are reported in baseline characteristics and change in three outcomes for caregivers who completed 1) both pre- and post-survey, 2) pre-survey only, and 3) post-survey only. Caregivers participated in, on average, four sessions and 7.7 hours of training. The majority were Caucasian (88%), female (81%), and on average, 60 years old. Significant improvement was found in all three outcomes [comfort with caregiving,
closure, and caregiver gain]. The program length made a difference for improvement
in comfort with caregiving and closure but not in caregiver gain. Caregivers
who are caring for someone during the last years of life benefit from a program
that focuses on the life-changing or transformative aspects of caregiving in
the last years of life, as well as practical aspects of caregiving. The ability
to support caregivers in this relatively low impact intervention can be used
in hospice and nonhospice settings. Kwak J, Salmon JR, Acquaviva KD, Brandt
K, Egan KA. From J
Pain Symptom Manage. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2007 Apr;33(4):434-45. |
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