Abstract
Female family caregivers (FFCs) constitute one of the basic supports of socio-health care for dependence in developed countries. The care provided by FFCs may impact their physical and mental health, negatively affecting their quality of life. In order to alleviate the consequences of providing care on FFCs, the Spanish Public Health System has developed the family caregiver care programme (FCCP) to be applied in primary care (PC) centres. The effectiveness of this programme is limited. To date, the addition of a physical therapeutic exercise (PTE) programme to FCCP has not been evaluated. A randomised multicentre clinical trial was carried out in two PC centres of the Spanish Public Health System. In total, 68 FFCs were recruited. The experimental group (EG) performed the usual FCCP (4 sessions, 6 h) added to a PTE programme (36 sessions in 12 weeks) whereas the control group performed the usual FCCP performed in PC. The experimental treatment improved quality of life (d = 1.17 in physical component summary), subjective burden (d = 2.38), anxiety (d = 1.52), depression (d = 1.37) and health-related physical condition (d = 2.44 in endurance). Differences between the groups (p < 0.05) were clinically relevant in favour of the EG. The experimental treatment generates high levels of satisfaction.
Highlights
In developed countries, due to the sociodemographic and epidemiological changes that have occurred in recent decades, together with an ongoing population ageing, an exponential increase in the need of care is expected for people in situations of dependency [1,2]
A total of 79 Female family caregivers (FFCs) were screened for study eligibility at primary care (PC) consultations
The sociodemographic profile of the FFCs in this study can be summarised as a female caregiver with an average age of 64.35 ± 7.56 years, a relationship of spouse (37.10%) or daughter (48.40%) to the person receiving care, an employment status of retired (40.32%) or without work (27.41%), and a level of academic training of primary studies
Summary
Due to the sociodemographic and epidemiological changes that have occurred in recent decades, together with an ongoing population ageing, an exponential increase in the need of care is expected for people in situations of dependency [1,2]. This could lead to a crisis in the provision of care to the dependent and a significant impact on available health and social resources in these countries [3]. In Spain, most dependent patients live at home and rely on their relatives due to limited hours of available home care, difficulty accessing public services, and, sometimes, resistance to accepting outside help [8]
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