Lived Experiences of Bereaved Family Members During COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Care Hospital With Special Reference to Imposed Restrictive COVID Guidelines-a Qualitative Study

This study aimed to understand the experiences of bereaved family members in view of restrictive COVID guidelines using qualitative approach. 10 Hindu, Gujarati bereaved family members who lost their loved ones during the first wave were interviewed telephonically after a month of their loss. Findings were difficulty in proper communication during hospitalization, disrupted end-of-life and funeral rituals and accepting harsh realities related to the changes imposed by using content analysis. Most of the family members felt that there was a need of staying with the patients. Telephonic mode of communication was not sufficient for them and created doubts related to death. Most of them felt remorseful as they were not able to see or bring their loved one home during their last moments and felt deprived of the traditional rituals. Also, they had to deal with their grief by themselves.

Bereaved Family Members' Perceptions of the Distressing Symptoms of Terminal Patients With Cancer

BACKGROUND

Few data are available on bereaved family members' perspective on the frequency of symptoms and degree of distress among terminal patients with cancer.

METHODS

We sent a questionnaire to 1472 bereaved family members of terminal patients with cancer in 20 general hospitals. The questionnaire asked them (1) to indicate which symptoms the patients had, (2) to rate on a 4-point scale the extent to which the symptom was distressing, as follows: 1 = not distressing, 2 = slightly distressing, 3 = quite distressing, and 4 = very distressing at the point of 2 weeks before the patient had died.

RESULTS

We analyzed 805 questionnaires for this study. Anorexia was the commonest symptom among terminal patients with cancer experienced by bereaved family members, followed by somnolence, weight loss, fatigue, and pain. Anorexia was the most distressing symptom among terminal patients with cancer experienced by bereaved family members, followed by weight loss, pain, edema, and dyspnea.

CONCLUSIONS

Anorexia and weight loss were frequent symptoms and bereaved family members felt very distressing. Furthermore, there are not means of effective treatment now. Thus, we think that further study in this field is necessary.