IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v64y2007i2p417-427.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Feeling like a burden: Exploring the perspectives of patients at the end of life

Author

Listed:
  • McPherson, Christine J.
  • Wilson, Keith G.
  • Murray, Mary Ann

Abstract

The issue of caregiver burden within the context of end-of-life care has received considerable attention. Less focus has been directed at the corresponding issue of care recipients' perceptions of being a burden to others, referred to as "self-perceived burden". The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological study was to gain a better understanding of self-perceived burden from the patient's perspective. Fifteen patients (ten women, five men) from Ottawa, Canada, receiving palliative care for advanced cancer were interviewed. Participants' experiences of self-perceived burden were reflected in two major interrelated categories. "Concern for Others" included the physical, social, and emotional hardships participants believed they were creating for others, as well as concerns about the future and likely effect of their death on those around them. "Implications for Self" reflected feelings of responsibility for causing hardships to others, resulting in distress and a diminished sense of self. A third category, "Minimizing Burden", was also identified, which described coping strategies used by participants to alleviate the burden on others and to reduce the negative impact on themselves. These categories and themes are discussed from the perspective of social psychology theory pertaining to the maintenance of equity in relationships.

Suggested Citation

  • McPherson, Christine J. & Wilson, Keith G. & Murray, Mary Ann, 2007. "Feeling like a burden: Exploring the perspectives of patients at the end of life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 417-427, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:64:y:2007:i:2:p:417-427
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(06)00481-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chochinov, Harvey Max & Hack, Thomas & McClement, Susan & Kristjanson, Linda & Harlos, Mike, 2002. "Dignity in the terminally ill: a developing empirical model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 433-443, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rogie Royce Carandang & Edward Asis & Akira Shibanuma & Junko Kiriya & Hiroshi Murayama & Masamine Jimba, 2019. "Unmet Needs and Coping Mechanisms Among Community-Dwelling Senior Citizens in the Philippines: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-16, October.
    2. Broom, Alex & Cavenagh, John, 2010. "Masculinity, moralities and being cared for: An exploration of experiences of living and dying in a hospice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(5), pages 869-876, September.
    3. Dan Geng & RuWei Ou & XiaoHui Miao & LiHong Zhao & QianQian Wei & XuePing Chen & Yan Liang & HuiFang Shang & Rong Yang, 2017. "Patients’ self‐perceived burden, caregivers’ burden and quality of life for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients: a cross‐sectional study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(19-20), pages 3188-3199, October.
    4. Olga María López-Entrambasaguas & José Manuel Martínez-Linares & Miguel Sola-García & Carmen García-Redecillas & Ana María Díaz-Meco-Niño, 2020. "Economic Problems and Loneliness as Factors Related to Subjective Unmet Health Needs in People with Chronic Diseases and Dependency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-15, April.
    5. Reuben Ng & Nicole Indran, 2021. "Societal Narratives on Caregivers in Asia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-15, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabio Ferretti & Andrea Pozza & Maurilio Pallassini & Lorenzo Righi & Fulvia Marini & Sabrina Adami & Anna Coluccia, 2019. "Gender invariance of dignity in non-terminal elderly patients with chronic diseases: a multicentric study," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 1645-1656, May.
    2. Bridget Johnston & Philip Larkin & Michael Connolly & Catriona Barry & Melanie Narayanasamy & Ulrika Östlund & Sonja McIlfatrick, 2015. "Dignity‐conserving care in palliative care settings: An integrative review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(13-14), pages 1743-1772, July.
    3. Street, Annette F. & Love, Anthony, 2005. "Dimensions of privacy in palliative care: views of health professionals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(8), pages 1795-1804, April.
    4. Marjorie Dobratz, 2004. "A Comparative Study of Variables That Have an Impact on Noncancer End-of-Life Diagnoses," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 13(4), pages 309-325, November.
    5. Carlos Laranjeira & Marília Dourado, 2022. "“Dignity as a Small Candle Flame That Doesn’t Go Out!”: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study with Patients Living with Advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Jacobson, Nora, 2007. "Dignity and health: A review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 292-302, January.
    7. Tang, Siew Tzuh & Liu, Tsang-Wu & Lai, Mei-Shu & McCorkle, Ruth, 2005. "Discrepancy in the preferences of place of death between terminally ill cancer patients and their primary family caregivers in Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(7), pages 1560-1566, October.
    8. Sonja McIlfatrick & Michael Connolly & Rita Collins & Tara Murphy & Bridget Johnston & Philip Larkin, 2017. "Evaluating a dignity care intervention for palliative care in the community setting: community nurses’ perspectives," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(23-24), pages 4300-4312, December.

    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:eee:socmed:v:64:y:2007:i:2:p:417-427. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    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.