The Family Series Workshop

Abstract

This study describes an evaluation of a community-based psychoeducational intervention, called The Family Series Workshop, for caregivers of community-dwelling persons with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias (ADRD). In a one-group pretest–posttest design, participants (n = 35) attended six weekly sessions. Caregiver stress, coping, and caregiving competence were evaluated along with demographic characteristics of participants. There was a significant improvement found for caregiving competence, and a marginally significant increase in coping with humor. Using regression analysis we also found that coping with humor, along with stress, were significant predictors of caregiving competence. These findings indicate that it is possible to increase caregiving competence utilizing a “grassroots” approach and that it is feasible to hold educational, group discussions on a plethora of challenging caregiving topics.

Relationship between Mastery and Caregiving Competence in Protecting against Burden, Anxiety and Depression among Caregivers of Frail Older Adults

“…The findings that mastery plays a more critical role than caregiving competence highlight the support that caregivers would need to manage their other roles in addition to their caregiving role. This is of particular importance to healthcare professionals, since the majority of caregiver training by healthcare professionals has been aimed at increasing competence in caregiving-specific skills and knowledge ( 24 , 43 ). While this might possibly contribute to an increased sense of competence ( 24 ), our findings suggest that strategic strategies that specifically target mastery are also necessary.…”

“…This is of particular importance to healthcare professionals, since the majority of caregiver training by healthcare professionals has been aimed at increasing competence in caregiving-specific skills and knowledge ( 24 , 43 ). While this might possibly contribute to an increased sense of competence ( 24 ), our findings suggest that strategic strategies that specifically target mastery are also necessary. There may thus be a need to review the concept of caregiver education and engagement by healthcare professionals to incorporate the concept of mastery into caregiver training programmes.…”

“…The Caregiving Competence Scale measures self-appraisal of one’s efficacy at caregiving ( 14 , 16 , 25 ) and has been widely used in caregiving research ( 17 , 22 , 24 ). Participants responded to statements such as whether they believe that they have learned how to deal with a very difficult situation, and their appraisal of whether they were “a good caregiver”.…”

“…The literature on caregiver competence also suggested a negative association with depression ( 16 , 19 , 22 ). Importantly, the viability of mastery and caregiving competence as malleable constructs are corroborated by interventional studies that aim to equip caregivers with the requisite knowledge and skills to effectively perform their caregiving role ( 17 , 22 – 24 ). The most pronounced improvement in perceived mastery and caregiving competence was observed amongst caregivers with the lowest levels of mastery or competence and highest levels of burden, suggesting that the most distressed caregivers may benefit most from such interventions ( 17 ).…”

Psycho-Educational Approach in Alzheimer’s Disease

“…More recently, in 2015, Llanque et al [7] described an evaluation of a community-based psychoeducational intervention (six weekly sessions), called The Family Series Workshop, for caregivers of community-dwelling patients with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. Caregiver stress, coping, and caregiving competence were assessed along with demographic characteristics of participants.…”