LAUSR

BACKGROUND Elderly patients with advanced cancer often experience various symptoms and need a great amount of care. However, their spousal caregivers are prone to negative emotions because of old age, poor health and the heavy burden of care. OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of a reminiscence therapy (RT) intervention on the spousal caregivers of elderly patients with advanced cancer. METHODS This study was a randomised controlled trial. Fifty-six spousal caregivers were randomly assigned to the control group (N = 29) receiving usual care and the experimental group (N = 27) receiving the RT intervention. The caregivers' caregiving burden, positive feelings towards caregiving and hope were measured before and immediately after the intervention. RESULTS The experimental group showed a significant reduction in the burden of spousal care compared to the control group (p < .01). The experimental group also had higher levels of positive feelings and hope than did the control group (p < .01). CONCLUSION RT is an effective approach to reducing the care burden of spouses of elderly patients with advanced cancer and enhancing the spouses' positive feelings and hope.