Abstract

Care experiences and challenges of inpatients' companions in Iran's health care context: A qualitative study

Author(s):Tooran Alipoor, Heidar Ali Abedi and Reza Masoudi

Among the clients of nursing services, family members, as patient companions, serve as both caregiver and care receiver, such that specialized care is delivered by nurses and primary care is delegated to the patient companion. Hence, care experiences of all patient companions are not the same. The aim of this study is to investigate the care experiences of inpatients' companions at hospital. This work is a qualitative study conducted according to epistemiological methodology. The participants were 13 patient companions who were selected according to purposive sampling. Data were gathered throughout in-depth, unstructured interviews and then analyzed according to Colaizzi method. Overall, six themes were generated in this study, consisting of caregiver's burnout, burden of care, resistance against tension, caregiver's care function, needs, and organizational barriers. The findings demonstrated that the patients' companions are faced with numerous stressful factors during their patients' hospital stay, and hospitals' negligence of the companions' information and support needs to deal with complexities of care has led to increased burden of care among the companions. Meanwhile, the companions' dissatisfaction with health care delivery may bring about adverse outcomes. Therefore, hospital authorities should pay special attention to the status of patient companions as informal the caregivers and support sources of patients.

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