title: Reciprocal suffering: caregiver concerns during hospice care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  For many hospice caregivers, the constancy and difficulty of caregiving impact their physical quality of life and cause depression, psychological distress, guilt, loneliness, and restrictions on social activities.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Deviating from traditional unidimensional research on hospice caregivers, this study explored the transactional nature of reciprocal suffering by examining caregiver concerns through four dimensions: physical, psychological, social, and spiritual.
  
  
  METHODS
  Researchers analyzed audiotapes of intervention discussions between hospice caregivers and research social workers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated that, of the 125 pain talk utterances, most referenced psychological concern (49%), followed by physical (28%), social (22%), and spiritual (2%) concerns. Reflections on concerns revealed a global perspective of caregiving, which highlighted the patient's needs juxtaposed to the caregiver's recognized limitations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  By examining the reciprocal nature of suffering for caregivers, this study reinforced the need for assessing caregivers in hospice care, with specific emphasis on the importance of providing caregiver education on pain management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Studies, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas 76203-5268, USA. lyles@unt.edu
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wittenberg-Lyles
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Demiris
authors.forename: Debra Parker
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burt
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*