| Monday, November 14, 2005: 3:15 PM-4:30 PM | |||
| Family Caregivers: Living with Uncertainty Through the End-of-Life | |||
| Learning Objective #1: Describe the major stages or phases of the trajectory of caregiving through the end-of-life | |||
| Learning Objective #2: List strategies to support family caregivers who are experiencing uncertainty while providing end-of-life care | |||
| Family caregivers providing end of life care to an adult family member face innumerable opportunities for uncertainty in both situational and existential contexts. This symposium presents the findings of a research project that explored times of uncertainty faced by informal caregivers providing end of life to a family member. In the first paper, we present an overview of uncertainty and the model of the end of life caregiving trajectory that was developed through a grounded theory of informal caregivers. Then, using this model as conceptual frame of reference, the second paper discusses how the course of the caregiving trajectory is affected by different illness trajectories of the care recipient, for example, cancer versus organ failure and other conditions. As the manifestation of the phases of caregiving shift in response to the illness trajectory, patterns of uncertainty also change. The last paper focuses on product of theoretical integration work that was used to develop a compendium of stage-specific strategies for supporting family caregivers through times of uncertainty so that they can fulfill this critical mission of caring. | |||
| Organizer: | Janice Penrod, PhD | ||
| Presenters: | Janice Penrod, PhD Judith Hupcey, EdD Barbara Biddle, BS, MS Annabelle Smith, MSN | ||
| The nursing imperative: Intervening to support caregivers through times of uncertainty Judith E. Hupcey, EdD, Janice Penrod, PhD, Melinda Steis, MS | |||
| Understanding times of uncertainty: The end of life caregiving trajectory Janice Penrod, PhD, Judith E. Hupcey, EdD, Annabelle Smith, MSN | |||
| Variations of the caregiving trajectory: Four illness trajectories Barbara Biddle, PhD(c), Janice Penrod, PhD, Judith E. Hupcey, EdD | |||