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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016 Sep;52(3):378-85.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2016.03.014. Epub 2016 Jun 3.

Family Caregiver Depressive Symptom and Grief Outcomes From the ENABLE III Randomized Controlled Trial

J Nicholas Dionne-Odom  1 , Andres Azuero  1 , Kathleen D Lyons  2 , Jay G Hull  3 , Anna T Prescott  3 , Tor Tosteson  4 , Jennifer Frost  5 , Konstantin H Dragnev  5 , Marie A Bakitas  6
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Family Caregiver Depressive Symptom and Grief Outcomes From the ENABLE III Randomized Controlled Trial

J Nicholas Dionne-Odom et al. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2016 Sep.

Abstract

Context: Little is known about whether early palliative care (EPC) support for family caregivers (CGs) impacts depressive symptoms and grief after care recipients die.

Objectives: To assess after-death CG depressive symptom and grief scores for early compared to delayed group CGs.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial (10/2010-9/2013) of an EPC telehealth intervention for CGs (n = 123) initiated at the time of care recipients' advanced cancer diagnosis (early group) or 12 weeks later (delayed group) in a rural comprehensive cancer center, affiliated clinics, and a Veterans Administration medical center. The ENABLE [Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends] CG intervention consisted of three weekly sessions, monthly follow-up, and a bereavement call. CGs completed the Center for Epidemiological Study-Depression (CES-D) scale and the Prigerson Inventory of Complicated Grief-Short Form (PG13) 8-12 weeks after care recipients' deaths. Crude and covariate-adjusted between-group differences were estimated and tested using general linear models.

Results: For care recipients who died (n = 70), 44 CGs (early: n = 19; delayed: n = 25) completed after-death questionnaires. Mean depressive symptom scores (CES-D) for the early group was 14.6 (SD = 10.7) and for the delayed group was 17.6 (SD = 11.8). Mean complicated grief scores (PG13) for the early group was 22.7 (SD = 4.9) and for the delayed group was 24.9 (SD = 6.9). Adjusted between-group differences were not statistically significant (CES-D: d = 0.07, P = 0.88; PG13: d = -0.21, P = 0.51).

Conclusion: CGs' depressive symptom and complicated grief scores 8-12 weeks after care recipients' deaths were not statistically different based on the timing of EPC support. The impact of timing of CG EPC interventions on CGs bereavement outcomes requires further investigation.

Keywords: Family caregiving; advanced cancer; palliative care; telehealth.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
CONSORT Diagram of Family Caregiver Enrollment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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