Background

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.

Milestones

Since its inception in 2006, the IPCFRC has facilitated international collaborations and produced several key publications. The IPCFRC has over 300 registered members from 37 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.

Aims and 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.

Apply for membership here: https://www.centreforpallcare.org/page/74/ipcfrc-member-registration

Institutional Collaborators

Institutional collaborators of the IPCFRC include:

• St Christopher’s Hospice, UK
• International Observatory on End of Life Care (IOELC), Lancaster University, UK
• Centre for Palliative Care (a department of St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and a Collaborative Centre of The University of Melbourne), Melbourne, Australia
• The Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group (PCRC) – Caregiver Core, Denver, USA

IPCFRC Management Committee

The Management Committee’s role is to oversee the strategic direction of the IPCFRC and implement an operational plan, as well as promoting IPCFRC in their region.

HUDSON, Peter (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

• Deborah Parker (Sydney, Australia)
• Gunn Grande (Manchester, UK)
• Richard Harding (London, UK)
• Clare Gardiner (Sheffield, UK)
• Emma Carduff (Scotland, UK)
• Sheila Payne (UK) (Ex-Officio)
• Anette Alvariza (Stockholm, Sweden)
• Joakim Öhlen (Göteborg, Sweden)
• Jean Kutner (Colorado, USA)
• Betty Ferrell (California, USA)
• Nicholas Dionne-Odom (Alabama, USA)
• Kelli Stajduhar (Victoria, Canada)
• Martin Loučka (Czech Republic) (EAPC Board Link)
• Aline De Vleminck (Ghent, Belgium)
• Roeline Pasman (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Resources

Newsletter

Please click here to access the current IPCFRC newsletter

Caregiver core resources e.g. outcome measures & instruments

Available at: https://palliativecareresearch.org/corescenters/caregiver-core

For further information please visit https://www.centreforpallcare.org/page/105/ipcfrc