INTRODUCTION: The caregiver's unpreparedness can lead to risky situations for caregivers and for those who receive the care. OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of the physiotherapeutic guidelines on quality of life and overload of informal caregivers of patients with spinal cord injury or stroke disabilities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve female informal caregivers, mean age 50,5 ± 16,5 years old. Four were caregiver from patients with disability caused by spinal cord injury and 8 by stroke. All patients were in physical therapy. At the first meeting, the caregivers received a notepad to write down their daily difficulties. After a week, they returned the notepads. On this day we assessed the quality of life, using the SF-36, and the overload, using the Questionnaire for Assessment to Informal Caregiver Overload. Two weeks later, we prepared a theoretical and practical class based on the notes and the questionnaires scores. After 4 weeks, the caregivers were assessed again using the baseline instruments. To compare pre and post intervention was used paired t-test (p < 0,05). RESULTS: The doubts were about the patient's bath and their own physical and mental health. There was no increase in quality of life (p = 0.1226). Only for the domains of pain (p = 0.0316) and mental health (p = 0.0029) was observed a significant difference. There was no difference in caregiver overload. CONCLUSIONS: An intervention with physical therapy guidelines reduced pain and improved mental health in informal caregivers of patients with spinal cord injury or stroke disabilities.
Caregivers; Health education; Quality of life; Health status
