Abstract

The aim of the project is to develop an International Collaborative on Research in Family Caregiving in Palliative and End of Life Care. The purpose of this collaborative is to plan and conduct international, collaborative research studies in the field of palliative family caregiving in order to develop evidence to improve the outcomes and quality of life for family caregivers (FCGs) who are looking after people with life-threatening illnesses.  This would allow FCGs to provide care while maintaining their own health and well-being throughout the dying and grieving process. Our collaboration will allow for the identification of internationally salient issues, while addressing major concerns for care and policy development in our respective countries.

The following goals are expected to be completed by the collaborative in the first year:
            1. Identification of the most urgent and pressing research areas and problems to be addressed;
            2. Consensus of the first research problem to be studied;
            3. Commencement of the development of a multi-site research proposal to address the collaborative’s first research problem
            4. Completion of a systematic review(s) related to key research areas;