CAREN logo

You are here

  1. Home
  2. An Italian pilot study of a psycho-social intervention to support family caregivers' engagement in taking care of patients with complex care needs: The Engage-in-Caring project

An Italian pilot study of a psycho-social intervention to support family caregivers' engagement in taking care of patients with complex care needs: The Engage-in-Caring project

Background: The raising of disability and chronic illness burden among European population is calling for a new paradigm of care, focused on primary health care interventions. Engage-In-Caring is a novel multicomponent intervention clearly dedicated to improve family caregiver engagement in the care of patients with complex care needs, by supporting them to develop a stronger consciousness of their role, needs and skills. Method: Engage-In-Caring intervention's efficacy and feasibility have been evaluated through a single arm pre-post observational pilot study settled in Rome. A qualitative phase, consisting of literature analysis of caregivers' unmet needs and a final revision from an experts' group, led to the structuration of the intervention, following the Caregiver Health Engagement Model (CHE-Model). Afterwards, a quantitative phase allowed understanding the feasibility of the intervention through Kruskal-Wallis test on a sample of 47 caregivers. Results: Results showed a reduction of the physical burden (Chi Squared = 6,483; p =.01) perceived by the caregivers and increase of the health literacy (Chi Squared = 3,560; p =.059) after the intervention. Conclusions: Feasibility tests on caregivers of patients with complex care needs are promising: this pilot study suggests a first effectiveness evidence, particularly concerning aspects related to burden perception and improvements in health literacy. Randomised controlled trials on larger samples are needed.

Access source material through DOI

Key Information

Type of Reference
Jour
Type of Work
Journal article
Publisher
BioMed Central Ltd
ISBN/ISSN
1472-6963
Publication Year
2019
Issue Number
1
Journal Titles
BMC Health Services Research
Volume Number
19
Start Page
541