IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i9p4937-d549359.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Family Caregiver Suffering in Caring for Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Juyeon Oh

    (College of Nursing, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea)

  • Jung-A Kim

    (School of Nursing, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea)

  • Min Sun Chu

    (Seoul Women’s College of Nursing, Seoul 03617, Korea)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the meaning of the suffering experience of Korean ALS family caregivers. This is a descriptive phenomenological study that included ten participants using convenience sampling with maximum variation in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, South Korea. Colaizzi’s data analysis method was used to inductively determine themes and formulate meanings. The three main themes derived from analysis were: “frustration with seeing a patient suffering”, “burnout at the cost of a life of dedication”, and “desperate need for help”. Caregivers experience high levels of suffering, which can come in various forms depending on the circumstances of the particular patient and family. Especially, distress from seeing a loved one suffering was another aspect of suffering in Korean ALS caregivers, reflecting strong family ties. At the same time, patients are in desperate need of help and support from their families. Thus, it is essential to provide care to lessen the causes of distress and meet the needs of not only patients, but also caregivers through family-centered care to improve overall quality of life for all involved.

Suggested Citation

  • Juyeon Oh & Jung-A Kim & Min Sun Chu, 2021. "Family Caregiver Suffering in Caring for Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-9, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4937-:d:549359
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4937/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4937/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4937-:d:549359. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.