| When family caregivers taking care of terminally ill patients are suffering from a challenging patient end-of-life situation, the caregivers' daily lives are negatively influenced. Homecare hospice nurses have to support these caregivers. However, there is a current knowledge gap in the psychological assessment of family caregivers. The purpose of this study was to determine what home care nurses currently evaluate in regard to family caregivers' psychosocial burden. The questionnaire was answered by 31 hospice nurses, who worked in Orange County and Los Angeles County, in November, 2011. The findings highlighted that the most frequent psychological assessment done by the nurses was family caregivers' knowledge about patients' illness and cares. In addition, the result also reveals that the longer hospice nurses visit, the more often they tend to assess family caregivers' psychosocial stress. Despite some limitations in this study, these highlight findings will help hospice nurses' assessment skills. Accurate and timely assessment by hospice nurses will enhance the quality of life for family caregivers as well as terminal patients. |
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