2007 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 14-21
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to conduct support group meetings for family members of inpatients in a palliative care unit and to identify the characteristics and meanings of the family members’ narratives. Support group meetings were conducted in the palliative care unit. With the participants’ consent, the dialogue between participants was recorded and analyzed qualitatively in order to determine the meaning of the narratives.
The following seven categories were extracted during the analysis: (a) The patient’s and family’s course and distress until admission to the palliative care unit, (b) The patient’s condition is noticeably declining, (c) Awareness that the patient continues to live while facing death, (d) Feelings of family members who are upset by the change in the patient’s condition, (e) The family members’ attitudes toward dealing with difficult situations, (f) Realizations of family members who attend to the patient and are faced with problems, and (g) What the family gained from participating in support group meetings. According to these results, the family members had various feelings and experiences regarding patients whose conditions varied from hour to hour.
Joining support group meetings allowed the families to give meaning to their own experiences by talking with others, and provided opportunities to give and receive sympathy and encouragement. These findings suggest that support group meetings in palliative care units are useful for providing opportunities to talk with other individuals who are in a similar situation.
