Abstract
Background: Informal carers (carers) support palliative patients to live at home. Most palliative patients require bladder and bowel care (B&BC) at some point, but there is limited evidence about carers providing B&BC and how best to support them. Aim: To explore carers’ experiences of providing B&BC to life-limited young adults. Methods: Interpretative phenomenological analysis of five interviews with purposively selected carers. Results: One overarching theme, ‘It is what it is’, and three superordinate themes (‘Whatever my daughter needs’, ‘Mum knows best’, and ‘Coping with caring’) emerged. While B&BC could be challenging at times, it was not a major concern. Instead it engendered closeness and opportunities for carers to provide better care than they felt professionals could. Conclusions: This study informs how professionals should understand the support carers offer. Professionals should ensure that carer/patient dyads who wish to manage B&BC are supported to do so, and that their support needs are regularly assessed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 588-595 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | International Journal of Palliative Nursing |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| Early online date | 22 Dec 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 22 Dec 2017 |
Keywords
- Caregivers
- Carer perspectives
- Continence
- Nursing
- Palliative care
- Phenomenology