Introduction to a novel social media-based meaning intervention for caregivers of children and adolescents receiving palliative care

Title

Introduction to a novel social media-based meaning intervention for caregivers of children and adolescents receiving palliative care

Creator

Levy K; Grant P; Byrwa D; Depner R; Tenzek K

Publisher

Journal of Pain and Symptom Management

Date

2018

Description

Objectives * Establish the need for a caregiver intervention. * Introduce the intervention and its components. * Disseminating findings from the piloting of this intervention. Informal caregiving, or care provided by an unpaid individual to an adult or child with chronic and/or lifethreatening illness, is phenomena that spans across cultures, settings, and generations. It is estimated that 16.8 million adults act as informal caregivers to children and adolescents. This subset of caregivers is generally overlooked within research and literature, as "caregiving" is seen as an act of general child-rearing. In reality, the acts of caregiving related to a child or adolescent's special healthcare needs are compounded atop basic child care. Compared to caregivers of adults, caregivers of children report poorer health outcomes and greater physical and financial burden. Interventions with these caregivers then must aim to increase quality of life and offer a form of self-care while not adding to their existing level of burden. The Photographs of Meaning Program, or POMP, is a novel social media-based intervention utilizing meaning-centered psychotherapy and photovoice techniques. POMP itself has two main components, the first being a nine-week meaningbased intervention featuring weekly photo narrative challenges for participating caregivers. At the close of the intervention, a photo exhibition is held featuring these photographs and narratives as a way to empower caregivers and help them share their experiences with friends, family, clinicians, and community members. For feasibility purposes, a focus group and exit interviews were also included in this pilot to guide current and future interventions. This session will review the existing research on caregivers of children and adolescents with chronic and/or lifethreatening illness, introduce this new and innovative intervention and its components, disseminate findings from the piloting of this intervention, and discuss future directions for research.
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Citation List Month

May 2018 List

Collection

Citation

Levy K; Grant P; Byrwa D; Depner R; Tenzek K, “Introduction to a novel social media-based meaning intervention for caregivers of children and adolescents receiving palliative care,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed March 19, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/15122.