Support group programme for relatives of terminally ill cancer patients.

GOALS: In order to improve the support for family of terminally ill patients who cared for a dying relative at home, a project with a group programme was started. This article is an evaluation of the programme. The aims of this study were to describe the opinions of participants in a support group programme about the programme and how they felt they had benefited from it.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: All subjects (n=39) who completed the programme answered five open-ended questions, and 12 of them were interviewed in semi-structured interviews that were analysed using the phenomenographic method.

RESULTS: Three main categories were identified in the interviews: (1) Practical condition and external circumstance--which condition had to be met for participation in the programme. (2) Group effects--the subjects felt that the programme was helpful in several respects, they perceived the programme being an important complement to the palliative home care, they benefited from mutual experiences shared among group members, the programme was also beneficial to the patients and was perceived to have had a health-promoting effect on the relatives. (3) The disease--the issue of how much the patients disease affecting the relatives situation were raised in the groups.

CONCLUSION: The results showed the value of the programme for relatives of terminally ill patients nursed in their home. The subjects emphasised the importance of the opportunity to meet people who are in a similar situation.