The Effectiveness of a Supportive Educative Group Intervention on Family Caregiver Burden of Patients With Heart Failure



Etemadifar S¹ ; Bahrami M² ; Shahriari M^{2, 3} ; Farsani AK³ Show Affiliations
Source: Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research Published:2014

Abstract

Background: Living with heart failure patients is a complex situation for family caregivers. Few studies have been conducted to examine the effects of interventional programs to ease this condition. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a supportive educative group intervention in reducing family caregiversa burden of caregiving. Materials and Methods: This randomized clinical trail was conducted at a selective teaching hospital in Isfahan, Iran in 2012. Theintervention consisted of four weekly multimedia training sessions of 2 h that included education and family support for 50 family caregivers. Caregiver burden was measured using the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Paired t-test, Studentas t-tests, and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test for signifi cant differences of the mean scores of burden between the intervention and control groups over a 3-month period. Results: The intervention was successful in reducing caregiver burden over time both at the end of the intervention period (P = 0.000) and 3 months after the intervention (P = 0.000). Conclusions: Nurses and other healthcare providers can use the findings of this study in order to implement effective programs to reduce family caregiversa challenges and to provide them more support. © 2014 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.