Caregiver burden and social support in family caregivers: a pre-post educational intervention study

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate changes in caregiver burden and perceived social support before and after participation in the program ‘Trabajando Juntos en Colaboración’ (TJC) among family caregivers of people with chronic diseases.

Materials and Methods: A quantitative pre-experimental pretest-posttest single-group study was conducted in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The group was selected through non-probabilistic convenience sampling (n = 86). Burden was assessed with the Zarit Burden Interview and social support with the Duke-UNC-11 questionnaire. Both questionnaires have demonstrated evidence of validity in the Mexican population. The intervention comprised eight weekly face-to-face group sessions of 2.5 hours each. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used, and effect size was calculated using the matched-pairs rank-biserial correlation (r_rb).

Results: At baseline (n = 91), female caregivers predominated (67.0%), with a mean age of 36.2 years. In the paired analysis (n = 86), burden decreased significantly (Z = −2.654; p = .008; r_rb = −.333) and overall social support increased (Z = 3.638; p < .001; r_rb = .471) after the intervention. The proportion without burden rose from 76.7% to 83.7% and those with adequate social support from 80.2% to 91.9%.

Conclusions: Statistically significant pre-post differences were observed in both variables following participation in the TJC program, with moderate effect sizes. Individual responses were heterogeneous, suggesting that some caregivers may require complementary strategies. These preliminary findings support the need for further evaluation of the program through experimental studies with a control group.

Keywords: Caregivers; Caregiver Burden; Social Support; Chronic Disease; Educational Intervention.