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The experience of being an informal caregiver to an early discharged cardiac surgery patient

University of British Columbia

Family members/informal caregivers of post-surgical patients are, by necessity, taking on the caregiving role sooner without any specified resources to help them. The input of these caregivers is essential so that nurses can understand their concerns, needs, struggles and rewards, and develop strategies to support the caregivers in their caregiving role. The purpose of this study was to increase nursing knowledge regarding the experience of being an informal caregiver of a cardiac surgery patient who had been discharged early from hospital. The qualitative research method of interpretive description guided the study. Unstructured interviews with eight informal caregivers of early discharged cardiac surgery patients were the major source of data. The findings of this study revealed that the experience was molded by the caregiver's past participation as a caregiver, as well as the caregiver's and care recipient's outlook on life and their interpersonal relationship. From the caregiver's frame of reference the caregiving experience was not always perceived as just the at-home recovery period but incorporated other significant milestones in the recovery journey. The caregivers often described their experience as it related to the care recipient's encounter with the disease process, diagnosis, surgery, in-hospital recovery and the at-home recovery period. The caregivers engaged in the process of caregiving which can be conceptualized as the course that accompanied the care recipients', and often as a consequence the caregivers' return to normal. This process involved: being vigilant and monitoring the care recipient's recovery, implementing strategies and techniques to assist the recovery process, and taking on a role to provide care and seek help as required. The encounter with caregiving affected all realms of the caregivers' lives, and the caregivers experienced feelings of stress, vulnerability and having to put their own lives on hold. The rewards of caregiving included the care recipient's return to health, and his/her appreciation of the care received. Further investigation is required to develop and study interventions which assist caregivers of early discharged patients. The findings of this study offer one perspective for such investigations.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-04-29

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7686

Nursing

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace