A Finding Balance Writing Intervention for Older Bereaved Caregivers

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The overall purpose of this study is to develop and pilot-test a theory-based psychosocial supportive finding balance intervention for older, bereaved spousal caregivers of a palliative cancer patient.

Detailed Description
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Research devoted to determining the efficacy of bereavement interventions remains a top priority. The development of theory-based, acceptable and feasible psychosocial interventions would begin to address the needs of family caregivers. A prominent theory of coping with bereavement, Stroebe and Schut's Dual Process Model, describes oscillation between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping; having a balance between these processes predicted more positive outcomes for older bereaved spouses. Similarly, the process of finding balance emerged as a first step in the search for new hope in the PI's grounded theory research with older bereaved family caregivers. They described the importance and difficulty of finding balance as they recovered from caregiving and struggled to find a new meaning and purpose for their lives after the loss of a spouse to cancer. An intervention focused on finding balance provides an innovative and promising approach to guiding the development of a theory-based psychosocial intervention for family caregivers who become bereaved. In clinical work a highly focused writing intervention has shown important benefits (personal communication, Dr. Robert Neimeyer, March 4, 2009). A validated tool to measure the effectiveness of an intervention to find balance does not exist, however valid existing measures of hope, grief, and an inventory of balance based on the Dual Process Model will be used as proxies. Therefore, the overall purpose of this study is to develop and pilot-test a theory-based psychosocial supportive finding balance intervention for older, bereaved spousal caregivers of a palliative cancer patient.

Official Title
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Finding Balance: The Experience of Hope for Bereaved Caregivers of Palliative Cancer Patients

Conditions
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Grief

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Writing Intervention


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: women and men, ages 60 and over, who previously resided with and provided care for a spouse with terminal cancer who died within the last year, English speaking, and freely consenting to be involved in the study. Exclusion Criteria: will be those cognitively impaired, non-autonomous, or not able to give a free and informed consent, as determined by the registered nurse research assistant on initial contact.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 60 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Writing Group<br>This group will receive the writing intervention. | Behavioral: Writing Intervention<br>* Finding Balance Writing Intervention<br>|
| No Intervention: No Intervention<br>Non Writing Group | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Grief | Herth Hope Index, Hogan Grief Scale, Inventory of Daily Widowed Life, Finding Balance Scale | 2 weeks | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Writing Intervention, Bereaved Caregivers, Older Adults, hope, inventory of daily widowed life