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Health Care Communication and Agreement and Disagreement About Symptoms Within the Context of Multimorbidity

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: Informal caregivers for older adults often act as medical 'proxies' based on their assumed knowledge of the care recipient's illness-related symptoms. Differences between symptom descriptions given by care recipients and caregivers, however, raise questions about the validity of proxy reports. Community-dwelling caregivers and their care recipients with chronic, multi-morbid conditions revealed similar numbers of symptoms reported as well as average symptom distress. Dyads with care recipients who scored higher on negative affect were more likely to have significantly lower. Results suggested the possibility of identifying and intervening with dyads who may be 'at-risk' for divergent symptom reporting. This awareness may increase the ability to engage in informed and shared medical decision making throughout the illness trajectory.

Source: Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care

DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2015.1116484

Authors: Morgan K. Eichorst, Rebecca S. Allen, Anne D. Halli-Tierney, Forrest Scogin, Elizabeth A. Kvale

Institutions: University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham VA Medical Center

Language: English

Topic: Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Nursing Research