Family care-giving and end-of life care

LUXARDO N.

New Orléans (Estados Unidos)

Workshop; Cancer narratives in global perspective; 2010

American Antropology Asociation

This qualitative study is focus on family support for primary caregivers of advanced cancer patients not hospitalized. The main objective is to describe how the caring for a dying person impact in the whole family, but basically in the daily life of the primary carer. Issues such as family types of support, frequency of support, social support  and the role played by the medical system on this topic are described. Interviews were conducted, basically,  in the homes of the patients. They were recorded, transcribed and analyzed with the Atlas ti software support. The study is based in the social support theory, but includes also other perspectives. Information regarding patients, primary caregivers, secondary caregivers and other members of the family also involved in the daily care activies is described.