Review and Clarification of How Terminal Cancer Caregiver Families Come to Terms

Abstract

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates how family caregivers come to terms with having a terminally ill member. Coming to terms was defined as coping. The concept of coming to terms involved several themes, including facing the inevitability of death, conflicts, and conflict resolution. The subjects were 19 family caregivers in a palliative care and general hospital care setting. A semi-structured taped interview and observations were used to collect data, and the Content Analysis Method by Krippendorff was used to analyze data. Ways of coming to terms were “focusing on the evidence to accept the existing situation” “finding positives” “finding ways of avoiding trouble” “sharing the burden” “finding approaches to solving disagreements” “accepting resignation” and “changing one’s way of giving care”. Ways of coming to terms were used to resolve conflicts. The researcher suggests that these ways of coming to terms have three functions: to accept the dying process and one’s own caregiving behavior, to protect oneself from burden, and to try to keep giving care.