Psychosocial Challenges Experienced by Partners of People With Parkinson Disease.

Although researchers have examined issues related to partners providing care for a person with Parkinson disease (PWP), few have explored partners' broader psychosocial experiences. To investigate this underexplored area, individual, in-depth interviews with 23 partners of PWPs were conducted. Participants reported significant psychosocial challenges, including having the PWP withdraw from communication, being unable to "rescue" the PWP, being the recipient of the PWP's frustration, expressing impatience with the PWP, shouldering increased responsibility, being confronted with possibly losing the PWP, losing valued activities, feeling housebound, being unable to predict the PWP's daily well-being, and experiencing uncertainty about future caregiving and disease progression. These results indicate that being the partner of a PWP involves serious, complex psychosocial challenges related to both caregiving and noncaregiving issues. This research highlights the need for a family-centered approach to Parkinson care and provides valuable insight that can inform interventions and nursing practice for this population.

Medical, personal, and social forms of uncertainty across the transplantation trajectory.

We designed this study to identify sources of uncertainty across the transplantation trajectory. We interviewed 38 transplant patients, who reported medical, personal, and social forms of uncertainty. Prior to transplantation, they reported uncertainty related to insufficient information about diagnosis, complex decisions about transplantation, unknown/unknowable organ availability, unclear expectations about medical procedures/outcomes, ambiguity in meaning of life, complex role and identity challenges, unclear financial consequences, questioning from others, and unclear relational implications. They reported that uncertainty experienced after transplantation was related to complex medication regimens, unpredictable future health/prognosis, complex role and identity challenges, unclear financial consequences, possible stigmatizing reactions, unclear relational implications, and complex interactions with the deceased donor's family. These findings lay the groundwork for additional research on uncertainty management for transplant patients, and suggest that health care professionals and supportive others cannot apply a one-size-fits-all solution when aiding in uncertainty management.