Background & Aim: Studies presented that family caregivers of hemodialysis patients face with multiple problems regarding responsibilities and issues arising from the care and treatment of the patients. These issues increase caregiver burden. However, these caregivers are mostly neglected. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of supportive educational programs on the burden level of the family caregivers of hemodialysis patients. Methods & Materials: A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 76 family caregivers of hemodialysis patients referred to Shahid Hasheminejad hemodialysis center in Tehran, Iran. The subjects were equally allocated into two groups of 38. ­The intervention group received six training sessions on supportive educative program. Both groups answered the caregiver’s burden inventory questionnaire at start and six weeks after intervention. Then, the obtained data were analyzed in SPSS, 21. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups concerning demographic characteristics. Caregiver burden was 88.56 ±11.74 and 84.97± 15.13 before the intervention­ in the experimental and control groups, respectively. It was respectively 58.77± 6.64 and 87.84±11.74 in the experimental and control groups after six weeks of intervention. Therefore caregiver burden decreased after intervention in the experimental group. Conclusion: The current study showed the effectiveness of supportive educative program on the burden on family caregivers of hemodialysis patients. Therefore, we suggest that managers of educational and medical centers encourage their staffs to use such programs.

Keywords: Educational Program, Support, Family Caregivers­, Burden of Care, Hemodialysis patients

Full-Text [PDF 515 kb]   (2973 Downloads)