Effects on caregiver burden of education related to home care in patients undergoing hemodialysis

Abstract

Caring for a patient undergoing hemodialysis is highly stressful and can negatively affect a caregiver's physical and psychological well-being. This study was conducted to examine the effect of educational support concerning caregiver burden and given to the caregivers of hemodialysis patients. This experimental study was performed with 122 caregivers. Patients' data were collected by means of Personal Information Form and Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale (ZCBS). Characteristics of caregivers of hemodialysis patients were analyzed descriptively in terms of frequencies and percentages for categorical data, means, and standard deviations. Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskall-Wallis test, and percentages were used in the data analysis. The mean ZCBS score was 52.1 ± 8.6 (range, 0-88). Among the caregivers, the mean score of the ZCBS was significantly higher in women, single, young, family relatives as "daughter/sister/brother/daughter-in-law and town/district, high educational level (P < 0.05). Moreover, the mean score of the ZCBS was significantly higher in caregivers who have health problems/diseases. In addition, this study explored the educational needs of home-based such as nutrition (35.2%), dialysis (27.8%), fistula care (20.4%), catheter care (18.8%), the information about chronic kidney disease (18.0%), blood pressure (17.2%), weight control (17.2%), hygiene (3.1%), and travel/exercise (6.5%). The post-educational mean scores (55.0 ± 7.6) of caregiver burden were observed to be lower than the pre-educational scores (43.9 ± 5.2), and the difference was found to be statistically significant. The home-based educational program demonstrated a decrease in the burden of hemodialysis caregivers.

Effectiveness of Problem-Focused Coping Strategies on the Burden on Caregivers of Hemodialysis Patients

“…This finding was consistent with previous studies (14, 15, 20). Evidence shows that most caregivers of chronic patients in Asian families are females (5).…”

“…At the start of the current study, more than 80% of the family caregivers demonstrated symptoms of severe burden. This finding is consistent with some of the previous studies that investigated the burden on caregivers of hemodialysis patients (14-16, 20). In contrast, in a study by Rioux et al caregivers of hemodialysis patients experienced low levels of burden (35), which might be attributed to the patients’ and caregivers’ characteristics, such as higher levels of caregivers’ education, higher levels of patients’ self-caring abilities, and performing hemodialysis at night.…”

“…For instance, Abbasi et al showed a direct relationship between caregivers’ burden and income (16). Bayoumi et al (14) and Mollaoglu et al (20) also reported an association between caregivers’ burden and education, indicating caregivers with higher education levels experience lower levels of burden. However, in the current study, we did not find any significant relationship between caregivers’ burden and demographic variables.…”

“…However, few interventional studies are available on the alleviation of the burden on caregivers of hemodialysis patients. In a study in Turkey, Mollaoglu et al investigated the effects of education related to home care in patients undergoing hemodialysis on caregiver burden and reported that education was effective in reducing caregivers; burden (20). In another study, Khorami markani et al examined the effect of a family-centered educational program on the home care knowledge of the caregivers of patients under chronic hemodialysis and reported positive effects (25).…”

“…However, the caregivers of hemodialysis patients have largely been neglected (22, 31). Although some descriptive and review studies are available and have reported moderate to severe levels of burden on these caregivers (14, 16, 31), only one interventional study is available on this group, and this study has no control group (20). No additional studies are available on the effectiveness of coping strategies on the burden of care among these caregivers.…”