Psychology and Behavioral Sciences

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Anticipatory Grief among Close Relatives of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Received: 26 September 2014    Accepted: 11 October 2014    Published: 10 November 2014
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Abstract

Several illnesses cause suffering and pre-death grief among close relatives, as in cancer and dementia. This might be the case also at Parkinson’s Disease (PD). We aimed at getting grief self-reports of relatives of PD patients using the same instrument (AGS) as in former grief studies to see similarities and differences. Anticipatory Grief Scale (AGS) and questions about background variables were sent to PD caregiver support groups in Sweden to be handed out to the members at their meetings. Close relatives of persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD) reported feelings and reactions on the AGS, and the results were compared with those from relatives of dementia patients in a former study also using the AGS. Self-estimations about the duration of illness, the condition at the time for questioning, and the perceived quality of care of the relative with PD were also made. The study showed an overall stressful situation including feelings of missing and longing, inability to accept the terminal fact, preoccupation with the ill, tearfulness, sleeping problems, anger, loneliness, and a need to talk. The PD and dementia groups appeared to show much more anticipatory grief similarities than dissimilarities. The duration of the disease did not influence the grief reactions, which, however, was shown for perceived quality of care as regards irritability and preoccupation thinking of the ill relative. Also the respondents’ perception of a bad condition of their relatives showed increased reports on loneliness, a need to talk about the illness, personal dysfunction, and not planning ahead.

DOI 10.11648/j.pbs.20140305.15
Published in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 5, October 2014)
Page(s) 179-184
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Parkinson’s Disease, Close Relatives, Anticipatory Grief, Psychology

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden

  • Department of Geriatrics, Sahlgrenska Hospital, Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

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  • APA Style

    Ulf Erland Johansson, Agneta Grimby. (2014). Anticipatory Grief among Close Relatives of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 3(5), 179-184. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140305.15

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    ACS Style

    Ulf Erland Johansson; Agneta Grimby. Anticipatory Grief among Close Relatives of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease. Psychol. Behav. Sci. 2014, 3(5), 179-184. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20140305.15

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    AMA Style

    Ulf Erland Johansson, Agneta Grimby. Anticipatory Grief among Close Relatives of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease. Psychol Behav Sci. 2014;3(5):179-184. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20140305.15

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  • @article{10.11648/j.pbs.20140305.15,
      author = {Ulf Erland Johansson and Agneta Grimby},
      title = {Anticipatory Grief among Close Relatives of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease},
      journal = {Psychology and Behavioral Sciences},
      volume = {3},
      number = {5},
      pages = {179-184},
      doi = {10.11648/j.pbs.20140305.15},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20140305.15},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pbs.20140305.15},
      abstract = {Several illnesses cause suffering and pre-death grief among close relatives, as in cancer and dementia. This might be the case also at Parkinson’s Disease (PD). We aimed at getting grief self-reports of relatives of PD patients using the same instrument (AGS) as in former grief studies to see similarities and differences. Anticipatory Grief Scale (AGS) and questions about background variables were sent to PD caregiver support groups in Sweden to be handed out to the members at their meetings. Close relatives of persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD) reported feelings and reactions on the AGS, and the results were compared with those from relatives of dementia patients in a former study also using the AGS. Self-estimations about the duration of illness, the condition at the time for questioning, and the perceived quality of care of the relative with PD were also made. The study showed an overall stressful situation including feelings of missing and longing, inability to accept the terminal fact, preoccupation with the ill, tearfulness, sleeping problems, anger, loneliness, and a need to talk. The PD and dementia groups appeared to show much more anticipatory grief similarities than dissimilarities. The duration of the disease did not influence the grief reactions, which, however, was shown for perceived quality of care as regards irritability and preoccupation thinking of the ill relative. Also the respondents’ perception of a bad condition of their relatives showed increased reports on loneliness, a need to talk about the illness, personal dysfunction, and not planning ahead.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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    AB  - Several illnesses cause suffering and pre-death grief among close relatives, as in cancer and dementia. This might be the case also at Parkinson’s Disease (PD). We aimed at getting grief self-reports of relatives of PD patients using the same instrument (AGS) as in former grief studies to see similarities and differences. Anticipatory Grief Scale (AGS) and questions about background variables were sent to PD caregiver support groups in Sweden to be handed out to the members at their meetings. Close relatives of persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD) reported feelings and reactions on the AGS, and the results were compared with those from relatives of dementia patients in a former study also using the AGS. Self-estimations about the duration of illness, the condition at the time for questioning, and the perceived quality of care of the relative with PD were also made. The study showed an overall stressful situation including feelings of missing and longing, inability to accept the terminal fact, preoccupation with the ill, tearfulness, sleeping problems, anger, loneliness, and a need to talk. The PD and dementia groups appeared to show much more anticipatory grief similarities than dissimilarities. The duration of the disease did not influence the grief reactions, which, however, was shown for perceived quality of care as regards irritability and preoccupation thinking of the ill relative. Also the respondents’ perception of a bad condition of their relatives showed increased reports on loneliness, a need to talk about the illness, personal dysfunction, and not planning ahead.
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