Adult children caregivers' experiences with online and in-person peer support

The experience of family caregivers of ventilator-assisted individuals who participated in a pilot web-based peer support program: A qualitative study

Introduction

Family caregivers play an important role supporting the day-to-day needs of ventilator-assisted individuals (VAIs) living at home. Peer-to-peer communication can help support these caregivers and help them sustain caregiving in the community. Online peer-support has been suggested as a way to help meet caregivers’ support needs.

Methods

A qualitative descriptive approach was used to elicit the perspectives of support received from caregivers who participated in a pilot web-based peer support program from October to December 2018. Data were collected through the transcripts of weekly online peer-to-peer group chats. Data were analyzed using an integration of thematic and framework analysis.

Results

In total, eight caregivers and five peer mentors participated in the pilot. All five mentors and four of the caregivers participated in the weekly chats. We identified three themes, a) The experience of caregivers is characterized by unique challenges related to the complexity of VAI care including technology; b) Mentors and caregiver participants reciprocally share support; c) Despite hardships, there are things that make caregiving easier and joyful.

Discussion

Our results add to the growing body of evidence pointing to the importance of online communities for supporting vulnerable caregivers. The reciprocal element of peer support, where trained mentors and untrained participants both benefit from support, can help sustain peer-support interventions. Despite the challenges of providing care to a VAI, there are facilitators that may help ease the caregiving experience and caregivers can benefit from ongoing support that is tailored to their needs along the caregiving trajectory.

The role of internet-based digital tools in reducing social isolation and addressing support needs among informal caregivers: a scoping review

Background

In Canada, 8.1 million people informally provide care without payment, primarily to family members; 6.1 million of them are employed at a full-time or part-time job. Digital technologies, such as internet-based tools, can provide informal caregivers’ access to information and support. This scoping review aimed to explore the role of internet-based digital tools in reducing social isolation and addressing support needs among informal caregivers.

Methods

A systematic search for relevant peer-reviewed literature was conducted of four electronic databases, guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. An extensive search for relevant grey literature was also conducted.

Results

The screening process yielded twenty-three papers. The following themes were generated from the reviewed studies: searching for and receiving support; gaining a sense of social inclusion and belonging; and benefits and challenges of web-based support. The studies noted that, to connect with peers and obtain social support, informal caregivers often turn to online platforms. By engaging with peers in online communities, these caregivers reported regaining a sense of social inclusion and belonging.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that internet-based digital tools can be a cost-effective and convenient way to develop programs that help unpaid caregivers form communities, gain support, and access resources. Service providers can leverage digital tools to deliver support to caregivers within online communities.

[Online social support as a mode of psychosocial intervention: A review of scientific literature, avenues for future research, and recommendations for practitioners]

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this review is to present online social support interventions described in recent scientific literature, in order to (i) guide organizations wishing to develop such an intervention or to improve an existing program, and (ii) to identify future research directions and recommendations for practitioners.

METHODS AND RESULTS

59 peer-reviewed articles presenting online social support interventions (2006-2016) were analyzed by using a thematic grid focusing on theoretical perspectives on social support, the online platforms used and their functionalities, the process of intervention development and evaluation, the modalities of participation and the facilitation methods, the documented impacts of interventions, and finally future research directions and recommendations for practitioners. A narrative methodology was used to identify challenges in intervention development and implementation, in order to provide guidance to organizations who want to develop or improve their online social support services.

CONCLUSIONS

Several research directions and recommendations for the development of online social support interventions are suggested, including the need to develop theoretical models of online social support and enrich traditional models of social support, the need to understand the benefits associated with different levels of participation, the importance of needs assessment in the development of interventions, and the contribution of qualitative methods to the evaluation of interventions.

Role change as breadwinner in cancer caregiving

INTRODUCTION

: Indian families are known for adopting the role of caregiver naturally when someone in the family falls ill to cancer. Although there were strong family structure and system existed here, now the changing family pattern and structure are challenging the role of cancer caregiving as well.

OBJECTIVE

: This study analyses the life situation of caregivers of cancer survivors during the course of treatment and attempts to explore the areas of interventions for caregivers themselves.

METHODS

: A descriptive research design was adopted for the study. A sample of 40 respondents was chosen for the study through purposive sampling technique.

RESULTS

: Majority of the caregivers were females (75%) and fell into the age group of 35 to 45 years (65%). The education among the caregivers was varying between illiteracy to postgraduation. Majority of 95% of them adapted the dual role voluntarily and 85% of them felt that they were finding it very difficult to cope with the dual responsibility. About 60% of them felt that they would fail in their roles and were not satisfied with their performances dually.

CONCLUSION

: Adaptation to a dual role involves time factor and as part of care to the caregiver, a guided interaction and orientation towards managing these roles would help them better ways to adapt. Given the scarcity of support system on Indian settings, the caregivers who do dual role have huge responsibility and challenges to deliver quality caregiving and fulfill their other roles as well. It is the duty of the complete health care system to seriously take this into consideration and to act on it.

A systematic review on the implementation of eHealth interventions for informal caregivers of people with dementia

OBJECTIVES

The objectives were to (1) systematically review the literature on the implementation of eHealth interventions for informal caregivers of people with dementia, and (2) identify determinants of successful implementation.

METHODS

Online databases were searched for articles about eHealth interventions for informal caregivers of people with dementia, providing information on their implementation. Articles were independently screened and inductively analyzed using qualitative analysis. The analysis was mapped onto the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR; Damschroder et al., 2009).

FINDINGS

46 articles containing 204 statements on implementation were included. The statements on implementation were grouped into four categories: Determinants associated with the eHealth application, informal caregiver, implementing organization, or wider context. Mapping of the determinants on the CFIR revealed that studies have focused mostly on characteristics of the intervention and informal caregiver. Limited attention has been paid to organizational determinants and the wider context.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite prolific effectiveness and efficacy research on eHealth interventions for caregivers of people with dementia, there is a critical dearth of implementation research. Furthermore, there is a mismatch between eHealth intervention research and implementation frameworks, especially concerning organizational factors and wider context. This review underscores the importance of future implementation research in bridging the gap between research and practice.

Using Twitter to recruit participants for health research: An example from a caregiving study

Twitter has the potential to optimize research conduct, but more research is needed around the nature of study-related tweets and strategies for optimizing reach. In the context of our caregiving study, we aimed to describe the nature and extent of study-related tweets, the extent to which they were shared by others, and their potential reach. To do so, we conducted a secondary analysis of our Twitter recruitment. We aggregated and categorized study-related tweets and analyzed the reach of the 10 most retweeted tweets. Results indicated that of 71 caregivers, 27 were recruited via Twitter. General recruitment tweets were most-shared by users. Tweet reach ranged from 5273 to 62,144 users. Twitter caregivers were demographically comparable to non-Twitter caregivers but had higher Internet proficiency and fewer children. Overall, using a personal Twitter account can expand the reach of study recruitment. Future research should compare different recruitment strategies and explore characteristics that may challenge the heterogeneity of Twitter samples.