The Bereavement Experience for Partners of Patients With Central Nervous System Tumors.

PURPOSE: To describe the experience of caregivers who have lost a partner to a central nervous system (CNS) tumor. PARTICIPANTS & SETTING: 8 bereaved partners of patients with CNS tumors enrolled in a dyadic, behavioral randomized controlled trial at a comprehensive cancer center in the southern United States. METHODOLOGIC APPROACH: Participants took part in a semistructured qualitative interview to describe the experience of their partner's death. Descriptive exploratory analysis was used to identify themes emerging from the interviews. FINDINGS: Themes identified from bereaved participants' experiences were related to caring for their partner, separating from their partner on patient death, and continuing without their partner following patient death. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Bereaved partners of patients with CNS tumors described how difficult it was to experience the patient's health decline and feeling unprepared for the patient's death, regardless of advance notice. Interventions targeting caregiver distress to improve their experience prior to and following the patient's death are needed.

Videoconferenced Yoga Interventions for Cancer Patients and their Caregivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Report from a Clinician's Perspective.

BACKGROUND: The acceptability of videoconferencing delivery of yoga interventions in the advanced cancer setting is relatively unexplored. The current report summarizes the challenges and solutions of the transition from an in-person (ie, face-to-face) to a videoconference intervention delivery approach in response to the Coronavirus Disease pandemic. METHOD: Participants included patient-family caregiver dyads who were enrolled in ongoing yoga trials and 2 certified yoga therapists who delivered the yoga sessions. We summarized their experiences using recordings of the yoga sessions and interventionists' progress notes. RESULTS: Out of 7 dyads participating in the parent trial, 1 declined the videoconferenced sessions. Participants were between the ages of 55 and 76 and mostly non-Hispanic White (83%). Patients were mainly male (83%), all had stage III or IV cancer and were undergoing radiotherapy. Caregivers were all female. Despite challenges in the areas of technology, location, and setting, instruction and personal connection, the overall acceptability was high among patients, caregivers, and instructors. Through this transition process, solutions to these challenges were found, which are described here. CONCLUSION: Although in-person interventions are favored by both the study participants and the interventionists, videoconference sessions were deemed acceptable. All participants had the benefit of a previous in-person experience, which was helpful and perhaps necessary for older and advanced cancer patients requiring practice modifications. In a remote setting, the assistance of caregivers seems particularly beneficial to ensure practice safety. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV: NCT03948100; NCT02481349.