The Influence of Family Communication on Experienced Relief and Burden at the End of Life—An Explorative Analysis of Qualitative Data of Parent–Adult Child Dyads

• Published in: Illness, crisis, and loss crisis, and loss, 2025-01, Vol.33 (1), p.62-79
• Main Authors: Roewer, Hanna A. A., Stiel, Stephanie, Herbst, Franziska A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult children; Adults; Communication; Content analysis; Dyads; End of life decisions; Interviews; Life; Parents & parenting; Psychosocial factors; Psychosocial support; Terminal illnesses
• ISSN: 1054-1373; 1552-6968
• DOI: 10.1177/10541373231195448

Interview data from the Dy@EoL project reveal changes in parent–adult child communication in end-of-life situations (Gawinski et al., 2021). The present study investigated the presence of commonly known facilitating and inhibiting factors for relieving communication in interviews of dyads comprised of: (a) terminally ill adult children and their parents and (b) terminally ill parents and their adult children. Additionally, the research examined the extent to which participants experienced the dyadic communication as burdensome or relieving, and compared the experiences of dyad partners. Study participants were interviewed as part of the Dy@EoL project, using semistructured interviews. The interviews of 9 dyads and 14 dyads were analyzed using qualitative content analysis in MAXQDA. Both dyad partners took part. All facilitating factors and some inhibiting factors, as identified in the literature, were evident in the interviews. Some dyads reported the presence of facilitating factors prior to the end-of-life situation, while others began to employ them (or employed them more intensively) in the end-of-life situation. Dyads showed similar experiences of burden and relief, through communication. Both parties should be offered psychosocial support, even when a burden is reported on only one side.