Caring for families in the palliative care setting

[Extract] The impending death of a family member presents both a crisis and challenge to their family. Their family is required to adjust and adapt their roles and functions in light of the personal loss they are about to experience. Furthermore, family members attempt to make meaning of what they are experiencing so as to make some sense of order in what is perceived by many as a chaotic time. This chaotic time may also be referred to as a period of instability, change and re-defining for the family (Davies & Steele 2010). Adjusting, adapting and making meaning of this personal loss frequently requires professional support.

This support is usually provided by nurses, as they hold the primary caregiver role. This role of supporting a dying person's family translates to any care setting and includes:
• acute care,
• community care,
• home care,
• residential aged care facilities, and/or
• palliative care units.

Regardless of the context, care of the family is integral to the provision of quality palliative care. In the context of providing quality palliative care, nurses and other health professionals view the family as a unit of care rather than seeing the dying person in isolation from and separate to their family (Mehta, Cohen & Chan 2009).