A Nurse-Led Education Program for Pneumoconiosis Caregivers at the Community Level.

Cheung Kin,Lillian Weiwei Zhang,Sandy Kit Ying Chan,Chun Yuk Jason Tsang

doi:10.3390/ijerph18031092

Cheung Kin, Lillian Weiwei Zhang + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031092

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Abstract

Pneumoconiosis is an irreversible chronic disease. With functional limitations and an inability to work, pneumoconiosis patients require support from family caregivers. However, the needs of pneumoconiosis caregivers have been neglected. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a nurse-led education program, which involved four weekly 90-min workshops led by an experienced nurse and guided by Orem’s self-care deficit theory. A single-group, repeated-measure study design was adopted. Caregivers’ mental health (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS, four single items for stress, worriedness, tiredness, and insufficient support), caregiving burdens (caregiving burden scale, CBS), and unmet direct support and enabling needs (Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool, CSNAT) were measured at the baseline (T0), immediately after (T1), and one month after intervention (T2); 49, 41, and 28 female participants completed the T0, T1, and T2 measurements. Mean age was 65.9 years old (SD 10.08) with a range between 37 and 85 years old. The program improved the caregivers’ mental wellbeing, and reduced their caregiving burdens and their unmet support and enabling needs, both immediately (T1) and one-month after the intervention (T2). In particular, the intervention improved the caregivers’ mental wellbeing significantly, specifically depression symptoms, stress, and tiredness immediately after the intervention; and reduced most of their unmet support needs and unmet enabling needs one-month after the intervention. This was the first nurse-led program for pneumoconiosis caregivers and should serve as a foundation for further studies to test the program with robust designs.

Highlights

Worldwide, programs to support pneumoconiosis caregivers are scarce, even though there is evidence of their mental wellbeing being affected adversely [1]
All the 49 caregivers were female with a mean age of 65.85 (SD 10.08), married (n = 47, 95.9%), with children (n = 45, 91.8%), and with education at least secondary school level (n = 30, 61.2%)
Our findings suggest that further studies should investigate the health issues of pneumoconiosis caregivers

Summary

Introduction

Programs to support pneumoconiosis caregivers are scarce, even though there is evidence of their mental wellbeing being affected adversely [1]. In 2012, the number of cases of pneumoconiosis rose to 727,148 in China [2]. 2013, and 26,873 in 2014 [3]; 2041 cases of mesothelioma were diagnosed in China as well [4]. There has been an increase in the prevalence of pneumoconiosis since 2000 in Australia [5] and in the United States [5]. Patients with pneumoconiosis experience symptoms of breathlessness, depression, coughing, sleeping difficulty, anxiety, and fatigue [6], and functional limitations such as poor daily functioning and community living skills [1]. With functional limitations and an inability to work, pneumoconiosis patients require support from family members

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