About Us
How Our Program Started
“It was a Monday evening. I was called by my friend, who was asking for advice on how to care for her elderly mother. Her mother had fallen, broken her hip, and was receiving hospice care at her brother’s home. Her mother was in pain and restless, but her brother was afraid to give her morphine. As a palliative care doctor, I often get these types of phone calls. I conducted a three-way call with my friend and her brother to discuss her brother’s concerns. After some time, he understood the purpose of the morphine and hospice care. He was reassured. This got me thinking, how might we make this information better available to more hospice family caregivers? HERE IS HOW OUR VIDEOS CAN HELP.”
— Dr. Dulce M. Cruz-Oliver
Despite the proven benefit of the NOVELA videos (improving caregiver self-efficacy and lowering anxiety), access to culturally appropriate hospice caregiver resources remains limited.
This website aims to help family caregivers of hospice patients (especially families that face disparities in support), and hospice teams who are seeking culturally competent training tools by:
- Humanizing caregiving through culturally tailored storytelling
- Empowering caregivers with actionable, phase-specific tools
- Bridging systemic gaps in language and cultural competency
Our Strategy
Enhance Usability
Promote Equity
Support Caregiver Well-Being
Testimonials
[The videos] engage the heart and brain. This is an important distinction as most patient education is designed for intellectual transfer of knowledge (brain), and the emotions (heart) are not addressed. By engaging both heart and mind, the message transfer should be much higher.
— T.B., Johns Hopkins Hospital employee
The videos are necessary to be able to comprehend the different changes in our patients and why the decline occurs. Also, they portray the help that hospice care provides in those moments. The videos also show the importance of managing my emotions as a caregiver.
— Female hospice family caregiver
Related Publications
Phongtankuel V., Czaja S.J., Park T., Moxley J., Adelman R.D., Dignam R., Cruz-Oliver D.M., Toliver M.D., Reid M.C. A Hospice Intervention for Caregivers: Improving Home Hospice Management of End-Of-Life Symptoms (I-HoME) Pilot Study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2025 Sep 24. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40990369. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.70113
Cruz-Oliver D.M., Blinka M.D., Milner G.E., Nelson K.E., Bugayong M., Durkin N., Gallo J.J., Oliver D.P., Abshire Saylor M. A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Response to NOVELA Among Hospice Family Caregivers. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2025 Sep 12:10499091251371149. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40938148. https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091251371149
Cruz-Oliver, D. M., Abshire, M., Budhathoki, C., Hladek, M. D., Volandes, A., Jorgensen, L., & Oliver, D. P. (2021). Comparison of Traditional Videos With Telenovelas for Hospice Family Caregivers Education. The American journal of hospice & palliative care, 38(10), 1230–1237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049909121991524
Cruz-Oliver, D. M., Abshire Saylor, M., Nelson, K. E., Milner, G. E., Blinka, M. D., Durkin, N., Budhathoki, C., Parker-Oliver, D., & Smith, T. J. (2022). Hospice Family Caregiver Perceptions of Benefits and Challenges of a Telenovela Educational Intervention. Journal of palliative medicine, 25(6), 945–951. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2021.0628
Cruz-Oliver, D. M., Milner, G. E., Abshire Saylor, M., Nelson, K. E., Blinka, M. D., Durkin, N., Smith, T. J., & Oliver, D. P. (2023). Recruitment, Retention and Intervention Delivery Experiences With Hospice Family Caregivers. The American journal of hospice & palliative care, 40(4), 409–415. https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091221110855
Cruz-Oliver, D. M., Milner, G. E., Mensh, K., Bugayong, M., Blinka, M. D., Durkin, N., Abshire Saylor, M., Budhathoki, C., & Oliver, D. P. (2024). Promising Impact of Telenovela Intervention for Caregivers of Hospice Patients: A Pilot Study. The American journal of hospice & palliative care, 41(12), 1400–1407. https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091241228835
Cruz-Oliver, D. M., Pacheco Rueda, A., Viera-Ortiz, L., Washington, K. T., & Oliver, D. P. (2020). The evidence supporting educational videos for patients and caregivers receiving hospice and palliative care: A systematic review. Patient education and counseling, 103(9), 1677–1691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2020.03.014
Park, T., Parillon, B., Cruz-Oliver, D. M., Sloan, D. H., Reid, M. C., Czaja, S., Adelman, R., Dignam, R., & Phongtankuel, V. (2024). Pilot Testing Educational Videos for Black Caregivers Receiving Home Hospice Care. Journal of hospice and palliative nursing : JHPN : the official journal of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association, 26(4), 224–230. https://doi.org/10.1097/NJH.0000000000001038
Park, T., Phongtankuel, V., Blinka, M. D., Silva, M., & Cruz-Oliver, D. M. (2024). Understanding the home hospice experience of Puerto Rican caregivers. Annals of palliative medicine, 13(6), 1401–1408. https://doi.org/10.21037/apm-24-24
Park, T., Sloan, D. H., Cruz-Oliver, D. M., Reid, M. C., Czaja, S., Adelman, R. D., Dignam, R., & Phongtankuel, V. (2023). Black Caregivers’ Symptom Management, Cultural, and Religious Experiences With Home Hospice Care. Journal of pain and symptom management, 66(2), 116–122.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2023.04.013