Characteristics of End-of-life Care Provided at Home by Husbands to Their Wives and Support of Visiting Nurses

Abstract

Purpose: Characteristics of end-of-life care provided at home by husbands to their wives and support provided by visiting nurses before and after the wives’ death were investigated.

Method: Interviews were conducted with visiting nurses (N = 9) that had experience of supporting such husbands since the time when the wives were alive. The content of the interviews was analyzed using the Grounded Theory Approach.

Results: The results indicated that characteristics of end-of-life care provided by husbands composed of the following categories: “condition of marital life,” “continuing the unusual life,” “thinness of the connection,” and “grief suppressed.” Support provided by visiting nurses to husbands consisted of two categories; “supporting end-of-life care during the unusual life” and “facilitating recovery from grief suppressed.”

Conclusion: Notably, the long-term conditions of marital life were considered important for husbands’ recovery from grief and rebuilding their life. It is suggested that visiting nurses should provide support in the period of end-of-life care so that the couples can realize desirable methods of end-of-life care according to the condition of their marital life.