Title

EXPLORING THE EXPERIENCES OF FAMILY MEMBERS PROVIDING AN END-OF-LIFE CARE

Author(s)

RAICA A. ACOSTA

JERWIN C. ADARLO

STEVEN JAMES C. AUDITOR

GIBELLE BLESS B. BAGUNDOL

VERMEO Y. BETONIO II

Affiliation

Misamis University

Degree Program

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Contributor

Ocapan, Jesus Jr., G.

Revelo, Judy Jane S.

Elmedulan, Arnielyn M.

Gomez, Grethel A.

Year

2025

Abstract

Caring for a loved one at home during the end of their life has become an intimate and emotionally challenging duty for many families. It involves managing complex medical needs while providing comfort, dignity, and companionship during a deeply vulnerable time. Understanding their lived experiences is important in exploring their unique challenges and unmet needs. This study aimed to explore the experiences of family members who provided end-of-life care to a loved one. The study uses Jean Watson's Theory of Human Caring to highlight the importance of compassion, emotional support, and meaningful connections in providing end-of-life care to loved ones. Max van Manen's Hermeneutic Phenomenology was used in this research. Five participants in this study are the primary caregivers who provided end-of-life care to their family members. The study was conducted in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and van Manen's lifeworlds to extract meaningful patterns and insights. The study identified five essential themes: The Body as a Battleground of Care, Transforming Spaces from Safe Havens to Emotional Landscapes, Relational Tensions and Bonds in Caregiving, Time Reconstructed Through Caregiving, and Caregiving Shaped by Culture, Constraint, and Coping Mechanisms. The themes mentioned show how end-of-life care providers cope with physical and mental stress, shifts in their home environment, changing relationships, altered time perceptions, and cultural constraints. The findings revealed that caregivers reported high levels of emotional stress and physical exhaustion, with many expressing feelings of isolation and a lack of formal support during end-of-life care. This study recommends proactively evaluating the physical well-being of family caregivers, establishing support networks through community health programs to ease the emotional stress that caregivers endure in their homes, communicating openly and frequently to resolve disputes and divide duties, including qualitative narratives and caregivers' lived experiences in the curriculum, to accept and appreciate their cultural beliefs while also looking for appropriate coping mechanisms, and examine underrepresented family roles or concentrate on particular phases of caregiving.

Keywords

caregiving, end-of-life, family members, home-based care, lived experience