An Italian pilot study of a psycho-social intervention to support family caregivers’ engagement in taking care of patients with complex care needs: the Engage-in-Caring project

Abstract

Background The raising of disability and chronic illness burden among European population is calling for a new paradigm of care, focused on primary health care interventions. Engage-In-Caring is a novel multicomponent intervention clearly dedicated to improve family caregiver engagement in the care of patients with complex care needs, by supporting them to develop a stronger consciousness of their role, needs and skills. Method Engage-In-Caring intervention’s efficacy and feasibility have been evaluated through a single arm pre-post observational pilot study settled in Rome. A qualitative phase, consisting of literature analysis of caregivers’ unmet needs and a final revision from an experts’ group, led to the structuration of the intervention, following the Caregiver Health Engagement Model (CHE-Model). Afterwards, a quantitative phase allowed understanding the feasibility of the intervention through Kruskal-Wallis test on a sample of 47 caregivers. Results Results showed a reduction of the physical burden (Chi Squared = 6,483; p = .01) perceived by the caregivers and increase of the health literacy (Chi Squared = 3,560; p = .059) after the intervention. Conclusions Feasibility tests on caregivers of patients with complex care needs are promising: this pilot study suggests a first effectiveness evidence, particularly concerning aspects related to burden perception and improvements in health literacy. Randomised controlled trials on larger samples are needed.

Patient Engagement in Oncology Practice: A Qualitative Study on Patients’ and Nurses’ Perspectives

“…In oncology and chronic diseases, the caregiver is an essential partner in the care pathway and can be a strategic ally for the healthcare team, as highlighted within the literature [ 38 , 39 ]. Caregiver engagement is seen as a crucial lever for the promotion of patient engagement, especially in situations where patient care is protracted over a long period of time; as a consequence, care in the person’s home environment becomes a value to be protected [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ].…”

Place4Carers: a multi-method participatory study to co-design, piloting, and transferring a novel psycho-social service for engaging family caregivers in remote rural settings

“…As such, family caregivers constitute an ‘invisible workforce’ within the health care team, but their important role and in particular their support needs often remain unrecognized [ 10 , 11 ]. Engaging family caregivers in the healthcare process is regarded as a key pillar of improved service effectiveness, sustainability, and patient-centricity [ 12 – 16 ], where engagement is defined as the process of enabling people to become actively and genuinely involved in defining issues of concern to them, in making decisions about factors that affect their lives, in formulating and implementing policies, in planning, developing, and delivering services, and in taking action to achieve change [ 17 ].…”

“#I-Am-Engaged”: Conceptualization and First Implementation of a Multi-Actor Participatory, Co-designed Social Media Campaign to Raise Italians Citizens’ Engagement in Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 Virus

“…The Vademecum is a leaflet in which the main contents of the campaign are showcased. The contents included recommendations that were derived from the key theoretical concepts of the PHE-model, and in particular, protocols previously conceptualized, developed, and piloted by the research team ( Menichetti and Graffigna, 2016 ; Guida et al, 2019 ).…”