%0 Journal Article
%T Psychoeducational Interventions for Family Caregivers of Seniors across Their Life Trajectory: An Evidence-Based Research Program to Inform Clinical Practice
%A Francine Ducharme
%J Advances in Geriatrics
%D 2014
%R 10.1155/2014/316203
%X Family caregivers of the elderly are growing in number and the care they are called upon to deliver in industrialized countries is becoming increasingly demanding and complex. Empirical research shows that the caregiving situation can have a significant impact on the health of these caregivers often on account of stress, physical and psychological exhaustion, and a sense of being overwhelmed. In this context, the quality of life of these caregivers depends in large part on professional educational and support interventions. The purpose of this paper is to present three innovative psychoeducational intervention programs developed and empirically tested by the research team of the Universit¨¦ de Montr¨¦al¡¯s (Qu¨¦bec, Canada) Chair in Nursing Care for Seniors and Their Families over the past fifteen years. These interventions have been developed together with family caregivers experiencing different stressful situations across their care trajectory. The results of evaluative studies of these programs provide evidence to inform professional clinical practice. Future directions for caregiving research are discussed. 1. Introduction Family caregivers of the elderly are growing in number in North America, as in all industrialized countries, and the care they are called upon to deliver is becoming more complex. Research shows that caregiving can have a significant impact on their health. Indeed, caregiver health is often undermined by stress, physical and psychological exhaustion, and a sense of being overwhelmed¡ªall ailments generated by the responsibilities of caring for their aging relatives [1, 2]. As a result, family caregivers are increasingly considered an at-risk clientele within the healthcare system and their quality of life (QoL) has come to depend on professional support in the form of educational interventions, counselling, and respite services. In response to the situation, numerous initiatives have been developed in the past few decades to help family caregivers. However, the results of evaluative research, systematic literature reviews, and meta-analyses regarding these initiatives have, in general, proved inconclusive [3¨C10]. In fact, the interventions and services developed have had modest effects at best and do not seem to have a significant influence on caregiver health and QoL. Among the reasons put forth to explain these conclusions, it appears above all that the elements of the proposed interventions are not specific enough to meet the particular needs of caregivers at the different stages of their trajectory. This trajectory often spans
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ager/2014/316203/