TY - JOUR
T1 - ’Who Cares?' The experiences of caregivers of adults living with heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary artery disease: a mixed methods systematic review
AU - Noonan, Miriam Catherine
AU - Wingham, Jennifer
AU - Taylor, Rod S.
PY - 2018/7
Y1 - 2018/7
N2 - Objective To assess the experiences of unpaid caregivers
providing care to people with heart failure (HF) or chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or coronary artery
disease (CAD). Design Mixed methods systematic review
including qualitative and quantitative studies. Data
sources Databases searched: Medline Ebsco, PsycInfo,
CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Embase, Web of Science, Ethos:
The British Library and ProQuest. Grey literature identified
using: Global Dissertations and Theses and Applied
Sciences Index and hand searches and citation checking
of included references. Search time frame: 1 January 1990
to 30 August 2017.
Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Inclusion
was limited to English language studies in unpaid adult
caregivers (>18 years), providing care for patients with HF,
COPD or CAD. Studies that considered caregivers for any
other diagnoses and studies undertaken in low-income
and middle-income countries were excluded. Quality
assessment of included studies was conducted by two
authors.
Data analysis/synthesis A results-based convergent
synthesis was conducted.
Results Searches returned 8026 titles and abstracts.
54 studies—21 qualitative, 32 quantitative and 1 mixed
method were included. This totalled 26 453 caregivers
who were primarily female (63%), with median age of 62
years. Narrative synthesis yielded six concepts related
to caregiver experience: (1) mental health, (2) caregiver
role, (3) lifestyle change, (4) support for caregivers, (5)
knowledge and (6) relationships. There was a discordance
between paradigms regarding emerging concepts. Four
concepts emerged from qualitative papers which were not
present in quantitative papers: (1) expert by experience, (2)
vigilance, (3) shared care and (4) time.
Conclusion Caregiving is life altering and complex with
significant health implications. Health professionals should
support caregivers who in turn can facilitate the recipient
to manage their long-term condition. Further longitudinal
research exploring the evolution of caregiver experiences
over time of patients with chronic cardiopulmonary
conditions is required.
Trial registration number CRD42016053412
AB - Objective To assess the experiences of unpaid caregivers
providing care to people with heart failure (HF) or chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or coronary artery
disease (CAD). Design Mixed methods systematic review
including qualitative and quantitative studies. Data
sources Databases searched: Medline Ebsco, PsycInfo,
CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Embase, Web of Science, Ethos:
The British Library and ProQuest. Grey literature identified
using: Global Dissertations and Theses and Applied
Sciences Index and hand searches and citation checking
of included references. Search time frame: 1 January 1990
to 30 August 2017.
Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Inclusion
was limited to English language studies in unpaid adult
caregivers (>18 years), providing care for patients with HF,
COPD or CAD. Studies that considered caregivers for any
other diagnoses and studies undertaken in low-income
and middle-income countries were excluded. Quality
assessment of included studies was conducted by two
authors.
Data analysis/synthesis A results-based convergent
synthesis was conducted.
Results Searches returned 8026 titles and abstracts.
54 studies—21 qualitative, 32 quantitative and 1 mixed
method were included. This totalled 26 453 caregivers
who were primarily female (63%), with median age of 62
years. Narrative synthesis yielded six concepts related
to caregiver experience: (1) mental health, (2) caregiver
role, (3) lifestyle change, (4) support for caregivers, (5)
knowledge and (6) relationships. There was a discordance
between paradigms regarding emerging concepts. Four
concepts emerged from qualitative papers which were not
present in quantitative papers: (1) expert by experience, (2)
vigilance, (3) shared care and (4) time.
Conclusion Caregiving is life altering and complex with
significant health implications. Health professionals should
support caregivers who in turn can facilitate the recipient
to manage their long-term condition. Further longitudinal
research exploring the evolution of caregiver experiences
over time of patients with chronic cardiopulmonary
conditions is required.
Trial registration number CRD42016053412
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020927
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020927
M3 - Article
SN - 2044-6055
VL - 8
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
IS - 7
ER -
