Taking a back seat: support and self-preservation in close relatives of patients with left ventricular assist device.

BACKGROUND

As more patients with cardiac failure are being bridged to transplantation with left ventricular assist devices (LVAD), more insight into the lives of their close relatives is needed.

AIMS: To explore the experiences and coping strategies of LVAD patients' close relatives during bridge to transplantation and to generate theory.

METHODS

The study had a qualitative design using grounded theory and NVivo version 9 to analyse one paired interview (n=2) and one group interview (n=5) with LVAD patients' close relatives.

RESULTS

The main finding was the importance of supporting the close relatives who support the LVAD patient. The core category was support and self-preservation in close relatives. We constructed the support cascade model illustrating support from close relatives to the patient (main obligation) and to other family members (other obligations), and support from personal and professional relations to the close relatives.

CONCLUSIONS

Support from close relatives potentially benefits patients, family, healthcare providers, and society in general. Our study highlighted the importance of supporting the close relatives supporting the patient and we have suggested some modifiable factors to enable social support and ease transitions in the illness trajectory. We suggest that awareness of social support systems might be beneficial in comprehensive care planning for LVAD patients and their close relatives.