| Learning Objective #1: advance their nursing practice through understanding the unique unmet spiritual needs of caregivers in hospice and develop evidenced-based care to address those needs. | |||
| Learning Objective #2: conceptualize the relationship of symptom distress, unmet spiritual needs and depression, using the Geriatric Cancer Experience framework to assess dyads in a holistic way |
Sample: 110 hospice caregivers.
Method: The Spiritual Needs Inventory and CES-D was administered to newly-admitted caregivers. The Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale to patients. Regression analysis and correlations were run.
Findings: Average score of 56.4 on a possible range of 17-85 on the Spiritual Needs Inventory with a range of 0-13 unmet needs was reported. Frequently cited as needed and /or unmet were those that related to outlook in life. Caregiver outlook, religious practices and patient’s distress score explained 17% of the variance in the unmet needs score. The unmet needs score was significantly related F (1,106) = 13.41 with their CES-D score.
Conclusion: Caregivers of advanced cancer patients have specific spiritual needs that are not being met. Their outlook, religious practices, and the patient’s distress level factor into their needs. The number of needs is related to their depressive symptomatology. Routine assessment of caregiver’s spiritual unmet needs will facilitate caring for them. A new framework – the Geriatric Cancer Experience may help nurses to assess and plan care in a holistic way for this vulnerable population.