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Informal Caregivers Of Advanced Cancer Patients: The Impact Of Geographic Proximity On Social Support And Bereavement Adjustment, John Garland Cagle

Theses and Dissertations

This research explored the social and psychological needs of caregivers of advanced cancer patients, and their subsequent bereavement adjustment. The study focuses exclusively on informal caregivers who provide assistance to patients receiving hospice care for end-stage cancer. Those individuals living furthest from the dying care recipient, the long distance caregivers, were of particular interest. This study used a prospective design to explore how a caregiver's geographic proximity impacted their social support and bereavement adjustment. A 2 x 3 repeated measures design was used to gather data from caregivers before a patient's death (using a pre-death questionnaire) as well as after …