International Palliative Care Family Carer Research Collaboration (IPCFRC) EAPC Reference Group

Background

The World Health Organization recommends that family carers of people requiring palliative care should be offered optimal support from health and social care professionals. However, there is a shortage of evidence based strategies to support family carers. Also, there are only a small number of researchers who are focusing specifically on family carer research in palliative care and limited research funding opportunities.

The IPCFRC was established in 2006 to promote research into evidence-based support for family carers of palliative care patients by fostering interdisciplinary and international research, establishing international partnerships and promoting information exchange.

The IPCFRC operates under the auspices of the European Association of Palliative Care and has been administered (“in kind”) by the Centre for Palliative Care (part of St Vincent’s Hospital and a Collaborative Centre of the University of Melbourne, Australia).

The IPCFRC was instrumental in the inception of the EAPC family carer taskforce (2010), and in 2019 it was awarded status as an EAPC Reference Group.

The IPCFRC EAPC Reference Group is now also formally linked with the EAPC
Task Force on Costs of Family Caregiving in Palliative Care
(https://www.eapcnet.eu/eapc-groups/task-forces/costs-of-family-caregiving)

Aims & Objectives of the IPCFRC EAPC Reference Group

Aims:

  1. Promote the development of high quality research and scholarship to improve the wellbeing of family carers supporting patients towards the end of life.
  2. Provide a platform for international networking and collaboration.

Objectives:

  1. Undertake relevant steps to transition to an EAPC reference group.
  2. Contribute IPCFRC related content to EAPC e-newsletters.
  3. Apply to host a family caregiver specific research forum @ EAPC 2020.
  4. Undertake a survey of EAPC members to get an understanding of the enablers and barriers to family carer research.
  5. Develop a core set of evidence and consensus based family caregiver outcome measures that will result in a toolkit to aid clinicians and researchers and also be published in an international peer reviewed journal.

Membership

Membership of the IPCFRC is free and is open to individuals from all continents with a genuine interest in palliative care research related to family carers.

Peter Hudson

Chair

Director, Centre for Palliative Care

St Vincent’s Hospital & The University of Melbourne, Australia

Honorary Professor, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

To contact please click here

Gunne Grande

Co-Chair

Professor of Palliative Care

The University of Manchester, UK

To contact please click here

Executive Committee

 

Advocates (promoting the IPCFRC in their region)

For more information about the IPCFRC please go to:  https://www.centreforpallcare.org/page/105/ipcfrc

Institutional collaborators of the IPCFRC include:
– St Christopher’s Hospice, UK
– International Observatory on End of Life Care (IOELC), Lancaster University, UK

Milestones

Since its inception in 2006, the IPCFRC has facilitated international collaborations and produced several key publications. The IPCFRC has over 280 registered members from 36 countries of the world, including: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Sweden, South Africa, Thailand, UK and USA. The IPCFRC has also enabled opportunities in the field by holding presentations, seminars and meetings at major international palliative care conferences such as the International Congress on Palliative Care (Canada). The IPCFRC has also held open meetings at nearly every EAPC congress since 2006.

Publications directly linked to IPCFRC include:

  • Hudson P, Trauer T, Graham S, Grande G, Ewing G, Payne S, et al. (2010). A systematic review of instruments related to family caregivers of palliative care patients. Journal of Palliative Medicine 24(7): 656-68.
  • Payne S, Hudson P, Grande G, Oliviere D, Tishelman C, Pleschberger C, Firth P, Ewing G,Hawker S and Kerr C. EAPC Family Carers in Palliative Care White Paper (Part 1). (2010). European Journal of Palliative Care 17(5).
  • Payne S, Hudson P, Grande G, Oliviere D, Tishelman C, Pleschberger C, Firth P, Ewing G, Hawker S and Kerr C. (2010). EAPC Family Carers in Palliative Care White Paper (Part 2). European Journal of Palliative Care 17(5).
  • Hudson PL, Payne S. (2007). Collaboration on research into family carers moves a step forward. European Journal of Palliative Care 14(5): 218.
  • Hudson PL. (2006). An international collaboration for family carer research. European Journal of Palliative Care 13(4): 135.

Newsletter

IPCFRC Newsletter – Oct 2019 

IPCFRC Newsletter – May 2020