TY - JOUR
T1 - Spousal bereavement after fibrotic interstitial lung disease
T2 - A qualitative study
AU - Egerod, Ingrid
AU - Kaldan, Gudrun
AU - Shaker, Saher Burhan
AU - Guldin, Mai Britt
AU - Browatski, Andrea
AU - Marsaa, Kristoffer
AU - Overgaard, Dorthe
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Introduction: Fibrotic interstitial lung disease (f-ILD) comprises a group of diseases with lung scarring and reduced life expectancy. The short time from diagnosis to death affects the patients’ bereaved spouses, who risk developing prolonged grief. In Denmark palliative care is most often offered to cancer patients. Aim: We aimed to investigate the experience of spouses of f-ILD patients during the final stages of illness and up to the first year after the patient's death to investigate if palliative care could ease the transition and prevent PGD. Methods: Our study had a qualitative design triangulating in-depth interviews, field notes, participant diaries and the prolonged grief questionnaire PG-13. We included 20 spouses and applied thematic analysis. Initial coding was performed deductively according to the chronological stages of before, during and after the death of the patient. We subsequently coded inductively within the stages. Results: During the final days the spouses experienced emotional ambivalence shifting between hope, acceptance and despair. Factors affecting the spouses during the final hours were the timing, location, and process of death. After the patient's death the spouses experienced feelings of grief and optimism as they moved toward a new life on their own. Conclusions: Some of the factors affecting the spouses and potentially causing prolonged grief might be alleviated by offering palliative/supportive care and advance care planning to f-ILD patients and their family.
AB - Introduction: Fibrotic interstitial lung disease (f-ILD) comprises a group of diseases with lung scarring and reduced life expectancy. The short time from diagnosis to death affects the patients’ bereaved spouses, who risk developing prolonged grief. In Denmark palliative care is most often offered to cancer patients. Aim: We aimed to investigate the experience of spouses of f-ILD patients during the final stages of illness and up to the first year after the patient's death to investigate if palliative care could ease the transition and prevent PGD. Methods: Our study had a qualitative design triangulating in-depth interviews, field notes, participant diaries and the prolonged grief questionnaire PG-13. We included 20 spouses and applied thematic analysis. Initial coding was performed deductively according to the chronological stages of before, during and after the death of the patient. We subsequently coded inductively within the stages. Results: During the final days the spouses experienced emotional ambivalence shifting between hope, acceptance and despair. Factors affecting the spouses during the final hours were the timing, location, and process of death. After the patient's death the spouses experienced feelings of grief and optimism as they moved toward a new life on their own. Conclusions: Some of the factors affecting the spouses and potentially causing prolonged grief might be alleviated by offering palliative/supportive care and advance care planning to f-ILD patients and their family.
KW - Advance care planning
KW - Bereavement care
KW - Family centred nursing
KW - Grief
KW - Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
KW - Interstitial lung disease
KW - Palliative care
U2 - 10.1016/j.rmed.2018.12.008
DO - 10.1016/j.rmed.2018.12.008
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 30665511
AN - SCOPUS:85059093947
SN - 0954-6111
VL - 146
SP - 129
EP - 136
JO - Respiratory Medicine
JF - Respiratory Medicine
ER -
