RESUMO
This retrospective qualitative study aimed to examine the influences of bereaved family caregivers' perception of good death for their dying spouse or parent on their caregiving experiences. A purposive sample of 15 participants were recruited from a hospice and their narratives were analyzed. Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach, five key components of a perceived good death that intermixed well-established Western attributes with deeply rooted Asian values were identified and meanings ascribed to their caregiving experiences were based on that. These findings suggested implications for practice on the entire service continuum from palliative and end-of-life care to bereavement services.
RESUMO
The aim of this retrospective qualitative study was to examine the bereavement experiences and coping of family caregivers, with the Dual Process Model (DPM) as the theoretical framework. A purposive sample of 15 bereaved family caregivers, who had lived with and/or cared for their dying spouse or parent, were recruited from a local hospice. Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach, all one-to-one interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and entered into NVivo 12 Plus software for analysis. The major themes in this study mirrored well-established components of the DPM, including the concept of overload from the revised model. The cognitive processes of meaning making, an integral component of the DPM, were also discovered and put forth as a fifth theme to illustrate reconstruction of positive meaning. This is posited as an adaptive outcome to successful oscillation between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented grieving processes and, hence, leading to implications for bereavement care and support.