Guilt Focused Intervention for Family Caregivers. Preliminary Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial

ABSTRACT

Objectives

A pilot randomized controlled trial study was conducted for testing the efficacy of a novel Guilt Focused Intervention (GFI), that was compared with a Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CBI) for caregivers of people with dementia with high levels of guilt and distress.

Methods

Participants were 42 caregivers who were randomized assigned to the intervention conditions.

Results

Participants in the GFI showed significant reductions in depression, anxiety, and guilt at posttreatment and follow-up. Participants in the CBI presented reductions in anxiety and guilt at posttreatment and follow-up. Clinically significant change for guilt was found in 62.5% in the GFI and 9.09% in the CBI group at posttreatment. At follow-up, 58.33% in GFI and 12.5% in the CBI group were recovered.

Conclusions

The preliminary results of this pilot study suggest that caregivers with significant levels of guilt and distress might benefit from an intervention specifically designed to target guilt feelings.

Clinical Implications

A novel and initial intervention approach specifically designed for targeting caregivers’ feelings of guilt might have the potential to reduce caregiver’s emotional distress.

KEYWORDS:

• Anxiety
• compassion
• dementia
• depression
• treatment

Acknowledgments

The preparation of this paper was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under grant, PSI2015-65152-C2-1-R, and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under grant [PID2019-106714RB-C21]. María del Sequeros Pedroso-Chaparro is supported by a Pre-Doctoral Grant from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Samara Barrera-Caballero is supported by an FPU grant [FPU17/02548 from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport].

We thank all the caregivers for their participation in the study and also the following centers for collaborating with us in the project: Comunidad de Madrid y Departamento de Medicina (Special thanks to Dr. Primitivo Ramos), Aulas Kalewi, Centro de Salud General Ricardos, Centro de Psicología Aplicada de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Centros de día STIMA, Centro de Mayores y de Día San Sebastián de los Reyes.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport [FPU grant FPU17/02548]; the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [PSI2015-65152-C2-1-R]; the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [PID2019-106714RB-C21].