Abstract
Background. Many people, including those with cancer, wish to die at home. This may be achieved with care and support of relatives, friends and health and social care professionals. Previous studies have identified that home-based palliative care services have not adequately focussed on assisting informal caregivers to acquire practical caregiving skills. Aim. This paper aims to update the findings of an existing review and present a synthesis of literature examining the practical information needs of informal caregivers providing home-based palliative and end of life care to people with advanced cancer. Design. PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews were adopted in this study, and CASP scoring was used to assess quality. Data Sources. A comprehensive range of academic databases and grey literature sources were searched for materials published between 2007 and 2013. Results. Five hundred and forty-two papers were identified, of which ten met the qualifying criteria for inclusion in the review. Conclusions. There remains a dearth of good quality research literature which aims to identify, meet and/or evaluate informal caregivers’ practical information needs in providing home-based end-of-life care to people with (advanced) cancer.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Pain and Symptom Management |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Keywords
- caregivers; cancer; end of life; home; physical care; practical care; systematic review
