Publications by authors named "Tracey Shield"
Background: Family carers are central in supporting patients nearing end of life. As a consequence, they often suffer detrimental impacts on their own mental health. Understanding what factors may affect carers' mental health is important in developing strategies to maintain their psychological well-being during caregiving.
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- Family carers significantly impact the care of individuals at the end of life but often experience negative effects on their mental health, prompting a research project to identify factors that influence carer well-being.
- The project aimed to share principles for effective involvement of carers in research and to generate recommendations for carer support through collaboration with a Review Advisory Panel comprised of carers and researchers.
- Key strategies included regular meetings with a majority of carers, strong communication, flexible agendas, and appropriate compensation for carers, all of which continued effectively even when meetings transitioned online due to COVID-19.
Background: Informal carers are central in supporting patients at the end of life, but this has substantial negative impacts on carers' own mental health. When carers are unable to cope, this may affect their ability to support the patient and increase the likelihood of patient hospital admissions. Further, demographic changes mean demands for care at and before end of life are increasing and existing services will struggle to meet these demands.
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