A new Italian questionnaire to assess caregivers of cancer patients' satisfaction with palliative care: multicenter validation of the post mortem questionnaire-short form.

CONTEXT: Caregiver satisfaction with palliative care is a crucial indicator of its effectiveness. In light of the lack of validated or reliable Italian instruments, the Post Mortem Questionnaire-Short Form (QPM-SF), a self-report questionnaire, has been developed to assess home and inpatient hospice care. OBJECTIVES: The present study was designed to evaluate the psychometric properties of QPM-SF and assess for differences in quality of palliative care between hospice and home care settings. METHODS: A total of 584 caregivers of terminal cancer patients completed QPM-SF one month after the death of the care recipient. To assess test-retest reliability, a subgroup of 50 caregivers completed the questionnaire a second time, one month later. RESULTS: QPM-SF showed good internal consistency and temporal stability and a four-factor structure: "Integrated home care," "Hospice," "Physical care-Information-Global evaluation," and "Needs." CONCLUSION: QPM-SF may be considered a valid, reliable, and well-accepted self-report instrument for examining and implementing palliative care interventions.

Health risk factors in caregivers of terminal cancer patients: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: A large body of literature sustains the association between long-lasting caregiving for impaired significant others and increased health risk. Depression, elevated heart rate, and blood pressure at rest are key measures of health risk, mostly cardiovascular, which have been generally studied in caregivers of patients affected by dementia or chronic illness. Limited research has been conducted on emotional and cardiovascular impact of family caregiving for terminally ill cancer patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine psychological and cardiovascular responses in terminal cancer caregivers. METHODS: Twenty relative caregivers who provided in-home or hospice care to terminally ill cancer patients and 20 age- and gender-matched controls were interviewed and assessed for emotional distress. Measures of cardiovascular risk, blood pressure, and heart rate were recorded at rest in 4 separate sessions. RESULTS: Caregivers reported higher levels of depression, state anxiety, and more sleep dysfunctions than controls. They also revealed heightened systolic and diastolic blood pressure in some measurements. Moreover, elevation of heart rate was associated with caregiving length. CONCLUSIONS: The caregiving stressor is associated with considerable psychological vulnerability, sleep disorders, and risk of alterations in the cardiovascular system, which seem to be modulated by caregiving characteristics. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study shows the importance of screening caregivers for psychological as well as physical symptoms and disorders. An awareness of burden of terminal cancer caregivers could lead to timely proactive preventive interventions on their physical and mental health, to decrease negative outcomes.