Abstract
Direct Care Workers (DCW) provide both personal care to patients and emotional support to patients and caregivers in hospice and palliative care. DCWs often develop close ties and are then expected to work with new clients immediately following a care transition, with little or no time to grieve. A qualitative pilot study (n = 24) was conducted to explore the experience of DCWs during care transitions. Data was collected via focus groups and individual interviews. Thematic analysis was used. Results suggest DCWs managed their experiences (n = 19), by anticipating and accepting grief and loss (n = 21), employing personal coping strategies (n = 19), and saying good-bye (n = 15). Relational factors impacted the experience of care transitions (n = 22), including building and maintaining the relationship (n = 14), and the strength of perceived connections (n = 15). Increased organizational support and training to help address grief and loss will better support DCWs and the direct care workforce.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1308-1322 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Omega (United States) |
| Volume | 87 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2021.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was partially funded by Eastern Michigan University Faculty Research Fellowship.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Eastern Michigan University |
Keywords
- care transitions
- direct care workers
- grief
- home health
- low wage workers
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine
- Life-span and Life-course Studies