Abstract:

Palliative care aims to relieve patients' physical symptoms, provide psychosocial support to patients and their families, and improve their quality of life with a multidisciplinary team. In palliative care, patient caregivers are usually family members. The aim of this study is to determine the quality of life of family members who care for palliative care patients according to the variables related to the socio-demographic and care process. For this purpose, a quantitative study was carried out with 124 caregivers over the age of 18, who had no psychiatric problems and volunteered to participate in the study, in the Palliative Care Service of Karabük University Training and Research Hospital. According to their socio-demographic characteristics, it was determined that the quality of life scores of the family members who have high age, low education level, low income and child-bearing care are significantly low. According to the characteristics of the care-giving process, it was determined that the quality of life of the caregivers who devoted a lot of time to care during the day, who did not provide any other care in the family, who had difficulty in fulfilling their responsibilities, whose health and social life were negatively affected, who had sleep problems and who needed psychosocial support was significantly lower. The data of the research reveals the need to emphasize the psychosocial aspect of palliative care and support the family members who provide care by social workers.

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