Self-care capacity of informal caregivers of older adults with dementia: quasi-experimental study^*

Objective: to assess the effectiveness of a self-efficacy-based educational intervention to increase the self-care capacity of informal caregivers of older adults with dementia.

Method: quasi-experimental study, with pre- and post-intervention assessment, without control group. Participants included 17 informal caregivers of older adults with dementia. The intervention had three stages: Pre-intervention with data collection to characterize the caregivers, measurement of overload, self-care capacity, and perceived self-efficacy; Intervention using four videos produced by the researcher based on the four self-efficacy belief sources of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory; Post-intervention with new measurement of self-care capacity. We performed descriptive analyses, normality test and non-parametric Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test and paired t-test, considering a significance level of 0.05. The research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, under opinion 4,622,301, and was registered in the Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials – RBR-7gfvn3y.

Results: the comparative analysis of the effect of the educational intervention on self-care capacity found increased post-intervention mean value (102.11) in relation to the pre-intervention mean value (95.00), with statistical significance (p=0.029).

Conclusion: the self-efficacy-based educational intervention was effective in increasing self-care capacity for informal caregivers of older adults with dementia.

Descriptors:
Caregivers; Dementia; Self Care; Self Efficacy; Education; Nursing Education

Highlights:

(1) The production of educational videos is valid and effective in nursing interventions. (2) Self-efficacy can improve self-care for caregivers of older adults with dementia. (3) The video-based intervention was effective in improving caregiver self-care. (4) Nursing interventions can promote self-care for caregivers of older adults.