Descriptions of sleep quality by current and bereaved caregivers of individuals with advanced cancer

• Author / Creator

  Gagnon, Danielle, L

• End of life care for individuals with advanced cancer has moved from the clinical setting to the home setting. Family members thus have taken on the role of caregivers and must cope with the responsibilities and challenges of providing care. In order to support caregivers in this role, healthcare professionals need to understand the experience of caregivers. An important part of this role is a decline in sleep quality. The research question for this study was: how do current and bereaved primary caregivers of individuals with advanced cancer describe their experience of sleep quality in the context of caregiving? Using an interpretive description approach, interviews with ten current and bereaved caregivers were analyzed. Four themes related to sleep quality were identified: a) integrating caregiving with pre-caregiving activities, b) changes in sleep quality due to caregiving activities (being available; worried and afraid), c) really tired, and d) powering through. A novel finding of this study, “powering through,” explains how caregivers are able to persevere in their caregiving role despite the challenges of caregiving and marked declines in sleep quality.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Sleep
  • Advanced cancer
  • End of life
  • Caregivers

• Graduation date

  Fall 2017

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3M61C394

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.