Evaluating a Multicomponent Caregiver Intervention

ABSTRACT

There is compelling evidence that caring for an elderly individual with functional limitations is physically and psychologically stressful. The purpose of this study is to test a multimodal caregiver intervention of ethnically and racially diverse caregivers. We sought to examine if caregivers (n = 199) of older adults with physical and/or cognitive problems experienced improved depression and caregiver outcomes after participating in a community-based Caregiver Support/Training Program (CS/TP). Using a single group pretest–post-test design, caregiver depression decreased significantly. Specifically, caregivers were more likely to report higher positive affect at post-test. Although caregivers reported decreased caregiver burden, the difference was not statistically significant. One-way ANOVAs were also conducted to look at group differences. The findings of this study will help practitioners understand the importance of developing more targeted interventions that take specific ethnic and cultural characteristics of caregivers into consideration.

KEYWORDS:

• Familial caregiving
• elderly
• multicultural
• depression
• caregiver burden
• intervention research
• psychoeducational
• support group

This project was funded by the UniHealth Foundation, Grant No. 230428, “Spanish Speaking Caregiver Support Training Program” V. M. Villa (PI). This project is a collaboration between the CSULA Applied Gerontology Institute and the Beverly Hospital (Montebello, California).