Powerful Tools for Caregivers a Group Psychoeducational Skill-BuildingIntervention for Family Caregivers

摘要

>Introduction: Care providers consistently report negative consequences to their mental health as a direct result of their caregiving responsibilities. Specifically, they describe higher levels of distress, mental health problems, and depressive symptoms compared to their non-caregiving matched controls. Powerful Tools for Caregivers (PTC) is a national program that aims to empower caregivers to better care for themselves and enhance their self-efficacy. The purpose of the present study was to determine and quantify the effectiveness of the PTC program through pre/post data analysis. >Methods: PTC intervention was evaluated at two questionnaire time points: pre-PTC and post-PTC between June 30, 2004 and Oct 16, 2013. Paired sample t-tests (n=409) were conducted using SPSS Statistics Version 22 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). >Results: PTC increased caregivers who conducted self-care behaviors, who demonstrated self-efficacy, management of depressing emotions and those who used community resources. >Conclusion: PTC results in caregivers reporting that they are taking better care of themselves, reacting to their emotions in a healthier manner,gaining more confidence in their caregiving abilities and coping skills, and becoming moreknowledgeable about receiving assistance from their community resources.