Caregiver Experiences and Roles in Care Seeking During COPD Exacerbations: A Qualitative Study.

Five themes arose: (a) caregivers reported continuously monitoring changes in patients symptom severity to identify exacerbations; (b) caregivers described emotional reactions evoked by exacerbations and constant vigilance; (c) caregivers described disagreements with their patient in interpreting symptoms and determining the need for care seeking; (d) caregivers noted uncertainty regarding their roles and responsibilities in pursuing care and their approaches to promote care varied; and (e) expressed their need for additional information and support. Caregivers of patients with COPD often influence whether and when patients seek care during exacerbations. Discrepancies in symptom evaluations between patients and caregivers paired with the lack of information and support available to caregivers are related to delays in care seeking. Clinical practice should foster self-management support to patient-caregiver dyads to increase caregiver confidence and patient openness to their input during exacerbations.