EFFECTIVENESS OF SUPPORTIVE EDUCATIVE PROGRAM ON THE BURDEN IN FAMILY CAREGIVERS OF HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

Studies presented that family caregivers of hemodialysis patients face with
multiple problems regarding responsibilities and issues arising from the care and treatment of the
patients. These issues increase caregiver burden. However, these caregivers are mostly neglected.
Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of supportive educational programs on the
burden level of the family caregivers of hemodialysis patients.
Methods & Materials: A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 76 family caregivers of
hemodialysis patients referred to Shahid Hasheminejad hemodialysis center in Tehran, Iran. The
subjects were equally allocated into two groups of 38. The intervention group received six training
sessions on supportive educative program. Both groups answered the caregiver’s burden inventory
questionnaire at start and six weeks after intervention. Then, the obtained data were analyzed in SPSS,
21. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.
Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups concerning
demographic characteristics. Caregiver burden was 88.56 ±11.74 and 84.97± 15.13 before the
intervention in the experimental and control groups, respectively. It was respectively 58.77 ±6.64 and
87.84±11.74 in the experimental and control groups after six weeks of intervention. Therefore caregiver
burden decreased after intervention in the experimental group.
Conclusion: The current study showed the effectiveness of supportive educative program on the burden
on family caregivers of hemodialysis patients. Therefore, we suggest that managers of educational and
medical centers encourage their staffs to use such programs