Professors Amelia Díaz, of the Department of Psychological Personality, Evaluation and Treatment of the Faculty of Psychology of the Universitat de València, and Teresa Lanjón, nurse and psychologist of the Hospital Clínico Universitario of Valencia, present an intervention programme of a biopsychological nature that can be adapted to different types of caregivers. This programme includes psychosocial variables and biological variables assigned to the nursing field.
6 july 2016
The authors of the work presented their conclusions in the I Congreso de Investigación en Salud y Envejecimiento (1st Research Congress on Health and Ageing), held in Almeria during the summer of 2014. In the presentation document, “First data of the effectiveness of a biopsychological intervention programme in caregivers”, they explain that the design is basically experimental, but it could be viable and could generate a positive impact on caregivers’ health. The research was carried out in two different times, before and after the intervention.
The design is basically experimental, but it could be viable and could generate a positive impact on caregivers’ health
Likewise, the collected data prove the effectiveness an intervention programmes on caregivers of dependent people could have, also taking into account the caregiver’s biopsychological aspects. It is about people likely to experience depression, anxiety, ire and hostility due to the psychological burden of their work. For this reason they need help to relieve the generated stress and to develop a good mental health.
The collected data prove the effectiveness an intervention programmes on caregivers of dependent people could have, also taking into account the caregiver’s biopsychological aspects
Thus, Díaz and Lanzón try to combine in their work the different approaches that have been carried out in the last years regarding the design and implementation of an intervention that considers a wide number of variables, both psychological, which are the ones that greater attention have received by the last studies, and biological aspects of the person. We must not forget that health, despite being a little considered variable, is the focus in the nursing interventions in the field of caregivers of dependent people.
Thus, the authors applied the programme in 85 caregivers of people with schizophrenia, of which most of them were single middle-aged women with studies. The programme had four sessions in which different activities related to their psychological well-being were carried out. Likewise, the programme was divided in two aspects:
- Intervention in psychology: based in the programme “How maintaining their well-being” by Crespo and López (2007).
- Activation control.
- Programming of nice activities.
- Training in assertive communication.
- Training in problem solution.
- Enhance of self-esteem.
- Emotional ventilation.
- Intervention in nursing:
- Knowledge of the medication.
- Mood control and relaxation.
- Sleep control and improvement.
- Pain control.
- Disease control and knowledge.
- Physical exercise.
- Food.
- Smoking habits control.
- Blood pressure control and modulation.
Ultimately, after these interventions the variables showed significant changes. Nevertheless, they did not do it equally. Social support, psychological comfort, satisfaction for the care and coping improved but their effect was reduced. On the other hand, anxiety, depression, self-esteem and perception of bad health experienced a moderate improvement.
Social support, psychological comfort, satisfaction for the care and coping improved but their effect was reduced
Likewise, the two main variables in the field of study of intervention in caregivers, subjective perspective of the load and the active coping, have substantially improved its results after the applied intervention. That highlights the need of interventions in caregivers of dependent people of multidisciplinary type, according to the authors, as well as the awareness raising regarding the biological, psychological and social aspects of the caregiver.
