Can a carer (peer) led psychoeducation programme improve mental health carers well-being, reduce burden and enrich empowerment: a service evaluation study

Abstract

Purpose Carers of people with mental health problems present with high levels of burden, poor mental well-being and feelings of disempowerment by mental health services. The purpose of this paper is to establish whether providing a psychoeducation skill programme for carers would lead to an improvement of mental well-being, reduce the levels of burden that carers sometimes feel while caring for someone with mental illness and also to increase empowerment. This paper provides a service evaluation study of an innovative carer-led psychoeducational intervention that was undertaken. Design/methodology/approach This programme was initiated and led by a carer who had experienced a lack of service provision to support carers and families in understanding and caring for a relative with severe and enduring mental health diagnoses. A model of co-production was adopted with the carer who led this initiative working closely with an occupational therapist and consultant psychologist in its development and delivery. Data were collected to measure the impact of the training at five different time points. The measures employed to measure outcomes were the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, the Burden Assessment Scale and Family Empowerment Scale. Findings Results indicated improved well-being, reduced burden and increased family empowerment in carers who completed this peer-led carer initiative psychoeducational programme. Research limitations/implications This service evaluation study was conducted in a single site and in the site in which it was developed. The carer consultant who led this evaluation and development of the intervention was also the peer worker who delivered the interventions. Hence, the authors are unable to ascertain if the results reported are unique to the individual peer worker. The transferability of this programme and generalisability of the result should therefore be treated with caution and further replication of this model and research is required. This would be beneficial to be conducted in an alternative site from where it was developed, delivered by different facilitators and include a control group. Practical implications The evidence from this study indicates that carers are able and willing to attend a group psychoeducational programme. A high number of referrals to the programme in a relatively short timeframe indicates that there is significant demand for such a service. The implementation of the programme is relatively straightforward. The key challenges for practical implementation are to have the right carer to lead and deliver the programme and the right support system in place for them (financial and supervision). Co-production also is not without challenges, the peer worker and occupational staff need to ensure that mutually valued and respected working relationship should develop. Originality/value This is the first evaluation of the impact of a carer-led psychoeducation intervention for carers of people with mental health difficulties in secondary mental health services.

Co-Production Performance Evaluation in Healthcare. A Systematic Review of Methods, Tools and Metrics

“…These outcomes have been mainly assessed with recognised, validated, self-reported scaled and clinical objective indicators, such as blood biochemical parameters [ 104 ]. The most recurrent metrics are the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9, [ 105 ]) (e.g., [ 18 ]); Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS, [ 106 ]) (e.g., [ 63 , 107 ]); and Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS, [ 108 ]) (e.g., [ 109 ]). Given the scarce investigation of informal caregiver perspectives, it is interesting to mention the study of Wood et al (2010) [ 110 ] that used the Quality of Life Questionnaire for Family (QLQ-F; [ 111 ]) and treatment Group (QLQ-G, [ 111 ]) for assessing the perceived quality of family life after co-created training for people with addiction disorder and their caregivers.…”

“…It could be interpreted as a status (or) process by which people gain control over their lives. Empowerment dimension includes metrics that assess lay actors’ capacities to become co-producers of health and well-being for their own [ 99 ] or for their loved ones [ 109 , 122 ]. The empowerment dimension in the public sector has also been measured with an adapted scale, such as the Self-Report Level of Participation Survey, which aims at assessing the perceived sense of involvement of lay actors during co-design workshops [ 123 ].…”

“…The number of sub-dimensions (15) also reflects the maturity of evaluation on this topic. Health status, well-being and quality of life are largely the dimensions that offer a portfolio of validated scales (e.g., health status: Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) [ 18 ]; well-being: Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS); [ 48 , 109 , 135 , 136 ]; quality of life: EuroQol index (EQ 5D index) [ 119 , 120 ]), followed by satisfaction with service (e.g., Psychological Needs Satisfaction in Exercise Scale [ 49 ]). Interestingly, some well-known constructs in medicine and health psychology (such as enjoyment [ 43 ], self-management [ 119 , 120 ], self-efficacy [ 50 ], self-esteem [ 110 ], eustress [ 23 ], burden [ 109 ], trust [ 73 ] and issue awareness [ 99 ]) have been relatively scarcely analysed.…”

Evaluating the effectiveness of the Family Connections program for caregivers of youth with mental health challenges, part I: A quantitative analysis

“…[26][27][28] Peer-led interventions are a cost-effective alternative to clinician-led inventions, while creating greater trust and rapport among participants. 28 Current peer-led interventions have shown promising results, such as reducing burden, improving empowerment, hope and selfesteem [29][30][31] ; however, there is a dearth of literature that focus on families of youth with mental health problems.…”

Parenting Psikoedukasi Dalam Mendukung Perkembangan Sosial Dan Emosional Anak Usia Pra Sekolah Di Kota Surakarta

“…Penelitian yang terkait dengan intervensi melalui orang tua anak atau pengasuh dilakukan terhadap keluarga dengan gangguan jiwa oleh (Chiocchi et al, 2019). Semua sesi terdiri dari presentasi power point, menguraikan Kebanyakan orang tua mengakui bahwa mengasuh anak, walaupun memberi banyak manfaat dalam banyak hal, bisa menjadi tugas yang sulit dan kebanyakan akan mengatakan menginginkan bantuan dalam mengasuh anak dari waktu ke waktu.…”