Effectiveness of an educational intervention to reduce the burden on home care workers and facilitating factors: A pre-post study
Author
Malumbres Talavera, Jenifer
Pérez Carmona, Ana
Martin-Ferreres, María Luisa
De Juan Pardo, M. Ángeles
Publication date
2022ISSN
1471-5953
Abstract
Aims: To determine if a training program, aimed at home care workers, for caring for the elderly and for providing their own self-care is effective for reducing workers burden in the short and long terms and to identify the associated variables that can influence burden across 12 months. Background: An increasing number of older adults rely on home care workers as a complement to the care received from family caregivers. However, these workers do not usually have any formal training in nursing care and occasionally suffer burden. Design: A pre- and post-intervention study with a follow-up at 12 months including 86 participants. Methods: An 85-hour training course, which included a practical module lasting 35 h, was offered on five separate occasions between 2014 and 2017 in Barcelona (Spain). The care burden was measured according the Zarit Burden Interview and care knowledge and perceived difficulty performing care tasks were assessed. We also gathered data on the physical and psychological status of the care recipients. Results: The educational intervention was effective after training (−7.45% p = .020) and although the initial burden on caregivers did not worsen significantly despite spending 12 months caring for people with moderate physical and psychological dependence, the decrease in the burden was not maintained over time. Associated variables that can influence the burden over 6 months were the caregivers’ baseline perception of lacking knowledge and/or having no difficulty with care tasks. The variable that could influence overburden in caregivers at 12 months was becoming ill before the intervention. Conclusions: For the first time, the effectiveness of home workers-specific training has been demonstrated: a reduction in the perceived burden was observed immediately following training completion, but this reduction was not sustained at 6/12 months. The practical interpretation is that a remedial/follow-up training course may be needed. Whether difficulty in providing care or having sufficient knowledge and having an illness influence self-care maintenance requires further verification.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
37 - Education
61 - Medical sciences
Keywords
Intervenció educativa
Treballadors d'atenció domiciliària
Intervención educativa
Trabajadores de atención domiciliaria
Educational intervention
Home care workers
Pages
9
Publisher
Elsevier
Collection
59
Is part of
Nurse Education in Practice
Citation
Gallart Fernández-Puebla, Alberto; Malumbres Talavera, Jenifer; Pérez Carmona, Ana [et al.]. Effectiveness of an educational intervention to reduce the burden on home care workers and facilitating factors: A pre-post study. Nurse Education in Practice, 2022, 59, 103279. Disponible en: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1471595321003152>. Fecha de acceso: 17 ene. 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103279
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Ciències de la Salut [738]
Rights
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