Investigating and Designing an Online Psychosocial Support Platform for Caregivers Publisher

Summary: Research designs online platform to boost caregivers' mental health skills. Could this support healthcare workers? #Caregiving #MentalHealth

Goli F^{1, 2} ; Ghorbanizavareh N² ; Sayedmirramezan M^{3, 6} ; Afsharzanjani H⁴ ; Wunsch A⁵ ; Sharbafchizadeh M^{3, 6} ; Muller AM⁵ ; Bahrami M⁷ ; Alavi M⁸ ; Ahangarahmadi S⁹ ; Eduard Scheldt C⁵
Source: International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture Published:2021

Abstract

Background: Healthcare professionals are prone to many psychosocial issues including job burnout, depression, and anxiety, which can affect the healthcare systems and societies. This has been intensified by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of the caregivers' problems are due to insufficient psychosocial competence and lack of suitable training for basic skills such as self-awareness, rapport, empathy, compassion, reasoning, decision-making, etc. The main purpose of this study was to design a psychosocial service package for caregivers to help them throughout their lives. Methods: Data gathering was performed by conducting 2 focus groups, searching for studies to identify urgent and important healthcare needs, and finding the best way to address their necessities through a proactive and sustainable method. Results: The online healers' healing platform is designed with 3 general objectives. The first objective was to present practical and effective materials to support caregivers in order to improve their psychosocial competence. The second objective was to monitor the member's progress and measure the effectiveness of the program. Moreover, to make the members more active in training and their own health promotion, this platform leads and supports self-help groups for caregivers as the third purpose of this project. Furthermore, healers can be active in content development and community education in order to experience a more productive interaction within the communities of caregivers. © 2021, Vesnu Publications. All rights reserved.