title: Depressive symptoms, grief, and complicated grief among family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer three months into bereavement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to describe depressive symptoms, grief, and complicated grief for bereaved family caregivers of patients who died from cancer-related causes and to explore relationships among these variables.
  
  
  METHODS
  a nonexperimental, secondary analysis of cross-sectional descriptive data from a longitudinal intervention study evaluating the effect of providing feedback from standardized assessment tools.
  
  
  METHODS
  two large, private, not-for-profit hospices in Florida.
  
  
  METHODS
  convenience sample of 280 family caregivers, bereaved three months.
  
  
  METHODS
  secondary analysis of self-report, survey data three months following death.
  
  
  METHODS
  depressive symptoms, grief, and complicated grief.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three months after the loss of a loved one, 34% of the caregivers had clinically meaningful scores for depressive symptoms. A significant number of bereaved caregivers were experiencing grief and depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  bereaved caregivers were experiencing significant levels of depressive symptoms and complicated grief. Caregivers with higher levels of grief had more depressive symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  tools are available to identify bereaved caregivers most in need of intervention.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. lorraine.holtslander@usask.ca
authors.forename: Lorraine F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Holtslander
authors.forename: Susan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: McMillan
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001601:Bereavement; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D022143:Family Nursing / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006306:Health Surveys; D017051:Hospice Care; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D009859:Oncology Nursing / Q000379:methods