Effects of Telephone-Based Support Group Program for Family Caregivers of Elders

Purpose:

To develop a telephone-based support group program for family caregivers of elders and to identify its effects on depression, caregiving burden and satisfaction.

Methods:

A non-equivalent control pre-post design was used. Participants were recruited from support groups in 3 long-term care agencies and were assigned to the experimental group (n=16) or control group (n=19) receiving usual care. For the experimental group, the telephone-based support group intervention, consisting of self-help group activity in small group, was given for 8 weeks. Outcomes included changes in depression, caregiving burden and satisfaction. Data were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test and Mann-Whitney U-test with SPSS 21.0.

Results:

After 8 weeks intervention, the experimental group had a significantly increase caregiving satisfaction (Z=-2.390, p= .017) than the control group. Within the experimental group, there was a significant decrease in depression (Z=-2.261, p= .024) scores but not the caregiving burden.

Conclusion:

The results indicate that a telephone-based support group program is effective increasing aregiving satisfaction, and decreasing depression. Therefore, it can be useful utilized in the field of nursing for family caregivers of elders.