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Gould, Sam (2023). What do unpaid carers find helps or hinders their resilience when providing end of life care at home in the United Kingdom - findings of a scoping review. Postgraduate Research Poster Competition, The Open University.
Abstract
Background: The number of people choosing to die at home in the United Kingdom (UK) is increasing and this trend is expected to continue. Support from family or friends is fundamental to people being able to die at home and is relied upon by health and social care services.4 Understanding what these unpaid carers themselves find impacts their resilience or ability to continue to care despite the potential adversity they are experiencing is essential if services are to adequately support unpaid carers.
Aims: To identify current UK based studies exploring the factors that impact unpaid carer resilience when caring for someone nearing the end of life.
Methods: Scoping review design adopted to map and chart current literature. Seven databases were searched. Literature was limited by date of publication, geographical area, language, research type and
phase of disease progression.
Results: 647 articles were identified through database and supplementary searches with 11 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. Two studies focused on resilience and nine focused on coping strategies. Studies were based on data collected between 2009 and 2014 with most studies based on recollections of bereaved carers (n=9). No studies were identified that solely explored the experiences of people currently caring for someone nearing the end of life at home. Three categories of factors were identified as impacting an unpaid carers resilience or coping, with organisational factors being most frequently identified.
Conclusion: There is a lack of UK based research which focuses on factors which impact the resilience of unpaid carers. Research identified relied mostly on the recollections of bereaved carers with a focus on coping rather than resilience. Organisational factors were most frequently identified as impacting an unpaid carers resilience. Further research is needed to explore what current unpaid carers find helps or hinders their resilience.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
