Harding, R., Higginson, I.J., Leam, C., Donaldson, N., Pearce, A., George, R., . . . Taylor, L. (2004). Evaluation of a short-term group intervention for informal carers of patients attending a home palliative care service. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 27, 396–408.

To promote self-care by combining informal teaching with group support in a short-term, closed, multiprofessional group

A single group facilitator introduced multiprofessional input from a changing weekly speaker during six 90-minute weekly sessions.

Groups were capped at 12 caregivers and initially focused on patient issues. Transportation for caregivers and a patient-sitting service were provided when necessary.

Four groups were delivered with peer supervision to ensure consistency of the intervention.

The sample (N = 73) was adult, informal, unpaid caregivers of patients receiving palliative care (86% of patients had a cancer diagnosis).

• Home palliative care services
• London, England

A prospective, observational, comparative (no randomization) design was used between those who accepted the intervention (n = 36) and those who declined the intervention but agreed to data collection in the first wave (n = 37), with limitations in group assignment.

• Zarit Burden Inventory
• Palliative Outcome Scale
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Scale
• Coping Responses Inventory
• General Health Questionnaire–12
• State Anxiety Scale

The intervention was not found to affect outcomes for any measures at postintervention (eight weeks) or follow-up (five months).

• The study had no randomization.
• Participants had a choice of comparison group.
• Little information was given about the training or preparation of the group facilitator.
• The sample was mostly Caucasian.
• Attrition was a problem.