Behavioral activation for live-in migrant home care workers and care recipients in Israel: a pilot study

ABSTRACT

In a growing global trend, individuals are migrating to other countries to live with and care for older adults with dementia. Although this trend addresses the geriatric workforce shortage, workers and older adults often experience distress. In a pilot study in Israel, six migrant care workers participated in a six-week group intervention in which they learned to increase valued, enjoyable activities for themselves and the older adult with whom they lived (behavioral activation). After the intervention, workers reported that they increased activities for themselves and the older adult and were satisfied, and quality of life and sense of achievement showed medium and large effect sizes, respectively. Participants suggested adapting the intervention to an online format for greater access. Although findings are tentative, the study points to promising strategies for migrant home care workers: focusing on the worker and older adult and offering online interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Behavior
• mental health therapy
• caregiving
• dementia
• behavioral activation
• migrant workers

Acknowledgments

Amber Gum, Ph.D. was supported by a Fulbright Core Scholar Award (2015-2016) from the U.S. State Department to conduct this research in Israel. She was hosted by the Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work at Bar Ilan University.

The authors would like to acknowledge the migrant home care workers at the participating institution, who are dedicated to caring for their care recipients, participated in the intervention and study, and provided valuable feedback.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The data are available from the first author. IRB review would need to be completed before data are allowed to be shared in a de-identified format.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fulbright Association;