Perspectives from the frontlines: palliative care providers' expectations of Canada's compassionate care benefit programme (original) (raw)
Related papers
Health & Social Care in The Community, 2010
Recognising their valuable role as key informants, this study examines the perspectives of front-line palliative care providers (FLPCP) regarding a social benefit programme in Canada designed to support family caregivers at end-of-life, namely the Compassionate Care Benefit (CCB). The CCB’s purpose is to provide income assistance and job security to family caregivers who take temporary leave from employment to care for a dying family member. Contributing to an evaluative study that aims to provide policy-relevant recommendations about the CCB, this analysis draws on semi-structured interviews undertaken in 2007/2008 with FLPCPs (n = 50) from across Canada. Although participants were not explicitly asked during interviews about their expectations of the CCB, thematic content analysis revealed ‘expectations’ as a key finding. Through participants’ discussions of their knowledge of and familiarity with the CCB, specific expectations were identified and grouped into four categories: (1) temporal; (2) financial; (3) informational; and (4) administrative. Findings demonstrate that participants expect the CCB to provide: (1) an adequate length of leave time from work, which is reflective of the uncertain nature of caregiving at end-of-life; (2) adequate financial support; (3) information on the programme to be disseminated to FLPCPs so that they may share it with others; and (4) a simple, clear, and quick application process. FLPCPs hold unique expertise, and ultimately the power to shape uptake of the CCB. As such, their expectations of the CCB contribute valuable knowledge from which relevant policy recommendations can be made to better meet the needs of family caregivers and FLPCPs alike.
BMC Palliative Care, 2008
The goal of Canada's Compassionate Care Benefit (CCB) is to enable family members and other loved ones who are employed to take a temporary secured leave to care for a terminally ill individual at end of life. Successful applicants of the CCB can receive up to 55% of their average insured earnings, up to a maximum of CDN$435 per week, over a six week period to provide care for a gravely ill family member at risk of death within a six month period, as evidenced by a medical certificate. The goal of this study is to evaluate the CCB from the perspective of family caregivers providing care to individuals at end of life. There are three specific research objectives. Meeting these objectives will address our study purpose which is to make policy-relevant recommendations informed by the needs of Canadian family caregivers and input from other key stakeholders who shape program uptake. Being the first study that will capture family caregivers' experiences and perceptions of the CCB and gather contextual data with front-line palliative care practitioners, employers, and human resources personnel, we will be in a unique position to provide policy solutions/recommendations that will address concerns raised by numerous individuals and organizations.
Community, Work & Family, 2012
There is a growing realization that employers need to accommodate the issue of work-life balance for employees who are also providing care for family members or friends in palliative or end-of-life situations, as this phenomenon is only expected to increase within developed nations in the future given demographic trends and health care restructuring. This research aims to uncover the expectations that Canadian employers/human resources (HR) professionals have of the Compassionate Care Benefit (CCB), in addition to their experienced realities of having staff utilize this social program. The CCB provides employed family/informal caregivers with a job-secured work leave and six weeks of employment insurance benefits while they take time off to provide care to a dying family member or close other, often at home (in the community). Five focused discussions were implemented with employers/HR across Canada. Using thematic analysis, the data reveal how well (or not) the CCB meets caregivers' needs, as well as the informational and procedural needs of workplaces. In light of these findings, suggestions for program improvement, with respect to the CCB, are made in order to advocate for continued support of family/informal caregivers whose voices are rarely heard.
BMC Palliative Care
Background Canadian palliative care (PC) philosophy seeks to support individuals in a person-centered and sensitive manner. Unfortunately, philosophy does not necessarily translate into practice and this divide may leave patients without appropriate care at the end of life, causing distress for some families. The primary goal of the study was to identify key factors affecting perceptions of quality PC from the perspective of informal caregivers and decision makers (e.g., program managers) and to understand how their experiences within the health care system may have influenced their perceptions. Methods Nine caregivers and 11 decision makers from Yukon Territory, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, & Nova Scotia shared their experiences in PC via interview or focus group. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and qualitatively analyzed for themes. Results Three themes emerged, including the Caregiver as Anchor, Bewildering System, and Patient, Caregiver, and Family-Centered Car...
Journal of Social Work in End-Of-Life & Palliative Care, 2013
Canada's Compassionate Care Benefit (CCB), an employment insurance program designed to allow Canadian workers time off to care for a dying relative or friend, has had low uptake since its inception. Due to their role in working with family caregivers, social workers are one group of primary health care professionals who have been identified as benefiting from a knowledge translation campaign. Knowledge tools about the CCB have been developed through social worker input in a prior study. This article presents the findings of a qualitative exploratory intervention. Social workers (n = 8) utilized the tools for 6 months and discussed their experiences with them. Data analysis revealed references to time and space constraints in using to the tools, and demonstrated the impact of time geography on knowledge translation about the CCB. The results suggest that knowledge translation about the CCB could be targeted toward caregivers earlier on in the disease progression before the terminal diagnosis, and knowledge tools must be disseminated to more locations. These results may be valuable to policymakers and palliative care providers, as well as theorists interested in ongoing applications of time geography in knowledge translation and the consumption/production of care.
Empowered and support caregivers, these essential allies for a fair province of Quebec.
Based on twenty years of experience and the expertise of its 75 members, the RANQ has developed a national strategy to support caregivers, titled Empower and support caregivers, these indispensable allies for a fair province. This strategy aims to reach out to the government, policy makers and the various actors providing services to caregivers for the creation of an interdepartmental committee. In collaboration with community organizations related to caregivers, the objective is to establish the operational and financial parameters of a national support strategy for caregivers. This committee must be based on an inclusive vision of caregivers, which means that it should take into consideration all situations and conditions of persons being cared for (caregivers for adults or children with disabilities or major illnesses, caregivers for senior citizens, etc.). The committee should also be based on the following five approaches: - The free, informed and revocable choice to be a caregiver - The recognition of the expertise of caregivers - The comprehensive, systematic, ongoing and discrete assessment of the needs of caregivers to provide appropriate and ongoing services - The fight against caregivers’ impoverishment - The knowledge development of organizations for caregivers and support of their expertise and leadership Such a strategy is beneficial for the caregivers, as for the people they help and the society that supports them. In our opinion, being a caregiver is an extra role; caregivers have the right not to take on the full responsibility to provide the care and services needed to the person being helped and handle their effects.
International Journal for Equity in Health, 2012
Introduction: Family (i.e., unpaid) caregiving has long been thought of as a 'woman's issue', which ultimately results not only in gendered, but also financial and health inequities. Because of this, gender-based analyses have been prioritized in caregiving research. However, trends in current feminist scholarship demonstrate that gender intersects with other axes of difference, such as culture, socio-economic status, and geography to create diverse experiences. In this analysis we examine how formal front-line palliative care providers understand the role of such diversities in shaping Canadian family caregivers' experiences of end-of-life care. In doing so we consider the implications of these findings for a social benefit program aimed at supporting family caregivers, namely the Compassionate Care Benefit (CCB). Methods: This analysis contributes to a utilization-focused evaluation of Canada's CCB, a social program that provides job security and limited income assistance to Canadian family caregivers who take a temporary leave from employment to provide care for a dying family member at end-of-life. Fifty semi-structured phone interviews with front-line palliative care providers from across Canada were conducted and thematic diversity analysis of the transcripts ensued. Results: Findings reveal that experiences of caregiving are not homogenous and access to services and supports are not universal across Canada. Five axes of difference were commonly raised by front-line palliative care providers when discussing important differences in family caregivers' experiences: culture, gender, geography, lifecourse stage, and material resources. Our findings reveal inequities with regard to accessing needed caregiver services and resources, including the CCB, based on these axes of difference. Conclusions: We contend that without considering diversity, patterns in vulnerability and inequity are overlooked, and thus continually reinforced in health policy. Based on our findings, we demonstrate that re-framing categorizations of caregivers can expose specific vulnerabilities and inequities while identifying implications for the CCB program as it is currently administered. From a policy perspective, this analysis demonstrates why diversity needs to be acknowledged in policy circles, including in relation to the CCB, and seeks to counteract single dimensional approaches for understanding caregiver needs at end-of-life. Such findings illustrate how diversity analysis can dramatically enhance evaluative health policy research.