Problem-solving counselling for caregivers of stroke survivors - An analysis of the addressed topics

Problem-solving therapies for family caregivers have been described for different dyads and care recipients with various chronic conditions. Only little attention is directed to the specific topics worked on with informal caregivers. This study focuses on the intensive intervention period of 3 months of an individualized mainly telephone-based problem-solving training for informal carers of stroke survivors (TIPS-Study). We present data of 47 strained caregivers who cared for their spouses and partners (n=42) or (grand-)parents (n=5). Results show that effective changes in burden can be achieved with only few contacts concentrating on problems that can be controlled by problem-focused coping mechanisms. Problems that require emotion-focused coping were processed rarely. Future perspectives of the approach are discussed.