| Summary: | 碩士 === 長庚大學 === 護理學系 === 99 === The purposes of this study were to explore the change pattern and its influencing factors of depression during bereavement stage for family caregivers of terminally ill cancer patients. This study used a descriptive longitudinal research design and 186 family caregivers of terminally ill cancer patients were recruited by a convenience sampling method in a medical center in Northern Taiwan. The Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to measure depressive symptoms at four time points: 1st, 3rd, 6th, 13th month after bereavement. Data were analyzed by the Generalized Estimation Equations (GEE) model.
The analysis of linearity of trend showed that the extent of depression gradually decreased over the bereavement period. Multivariate GEE analysis indicated patients with more advanced age and a higher level of subjective caregiving burden and caregivers with greater social support reported a lower level of post-bereavement depression. Caregivers experienced a higher extent of post-bereavement depression if they were the patient’s spouse and if they had a higher level of pre-bereavement depression and poorer health. Based on the findings of this thesis, it is recommended that nurses should enhance assessments for caregivers with a higher degree of depression at patients’ terminal stage. They should increase their abilities in identifying influencing factors of depression during bereavement period. Appropriate care and assistance should be provided to the high risk group to facilitate caregivers’ adjustments for the loss of their beloved family.
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