Effects of a Psychosocial Intervention on Caregivers of Recently Placed Nursing Home Residents: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Many caregivers continue to provide care and support to their care recipients after institutional placement. A two-group randomized controlled trial was carried out to test the efficacy of a psychosocial intervention for informal caregivers whose care recipients resided in a long-term care facility. The intervention was delivered during the 6-month period following baseline assessment. Follow-up assessments were carried out at 6, 12, and 18 months. Primary outcomes were caregiver depression, anxiety, burden, and complicated grief. Significant time effects were found for all three primary outcomes showing that caregiver depression, anxiety, and burden improved over time. No treatment effects were found for these outcomes. However, complicated grief was significantly lower for caregivers in the treatment condition.

KEYWORDS:

• caregiving
• complicated grief
• long-term care

FUNDING

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NR009573).