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Emotional support is important, and not only for surrogates’ psychological well-being: It’s also linked to the quality of their decision-making, found a recent study.1
As the population ages, a growing number of people will find themselves faced with making decisions for a family member. “We wanted to know if there are things we can do as healthcare providers to relieve their stress,” says Alexia Torke, MD, MS, who led the study. Torke is associate director of Indiana University’s Center for Aging Research and a research scientist at Regenstrief Institute, both in Indianapolis.
The researchers surveyed 364 surrogate decision-makers using a newly developed Family Inpatient Communication Survey. This measured two aspects of communication: information and emotional support during the patient’s hospitalization or shortly afterward.2
“We wanted to see if quality of communication is associated with the stress they feel. If it is, that might be a point where we can intervene,” says Torke.
The researchers expected these...