Is pre-bereavement collaboration between family caregivers and healthcare professionals associated with post-bereavement emotional well-being? A population-based survey

Orphé Matthys; Sigrid Dierickx; Luc Deliens; Lore Lapeire; Peter Hudson; Chantal Van Audenhove; Aline De Vleminck; Joachim Cohen

doi:10.1016/j.pec.2023.107654

Is pre-bereavement collaboration between family caregivers and healthcare professionals associated with post-bereavement emotional well-being? A population-based survey

Patient Educ Couns. 2023 May:110:107654. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2023.107654. Epub 2023 Feb 10.

Authors

Orphé Matthys¹, Sigrid Dierickx², Luc Deliens³, Lore Lapeire⁴, Peter Hudson⁵, Chantal Van Audenhove⁶, Aline De Vleminck⁷, Joachim Cohen⁷

Affiliations

¹ End-of-life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Belgium; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: orphe.matthys@ugent.be.
² End-of-life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Belgium; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
³ End-of-life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Belgium; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
⁴ End-of-life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Belgium; Department of Medical Oncology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
⁵ End-of-life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Belgium; Centre for Palliative Care, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ LUCAS, Center for Care Research and Consultancy, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁷ End-of-life Care Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Ghent University, Belgium; Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.

PMID: 36805930
DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2023.107654

Abstract

Objective: To investigate pre-bereavement collaboration with healthcare professionals and its association with emotional well-being of family caregivers of people with serious illness post-bereavement.

Methods: Population-based cross-sectional survey of bereaved family caregivers of people with serious illness (N = 3000) who died two to six months before the sample was drawn (November 2019), identified through three sickness funds in Belgium.

Results: Response rate was 55%. As measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), family caregivers scored lower on positive affect (PA) and higher on negative affect (NA) compared to a normative sample. Most family caregivers evaluated the pre-bereavement collaboration with healthcare professionals positively. Family caregivers' evaluation of collaboration with healthcare professionals pre-bereavement was positively associated with PA and negatively with NA, also when controlling for confounding effects of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the bereaved family caregiver and the deceased person.

Conclusion: There is a positive association between perceived quality of collaboration at the end of life between healthcare professionals and family caregivers and post-bereavement emotional well-being of family caregivers.

Practice implications: Our findings suggest the pertinence of attention from healthcare professionals to effective collaboration with family caregivers.

Keywords: Bereavement; Collaboration; Emotional well-being; Family caregivers; Healthcare professionals; Serious illness.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bereavement*
Caregivers* / psychology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Delivery of Health Care
Family / psychology
Grief
Humans