Characteristics and effectiveness of group support programs for informal caregivers - a systematic review / Design und Erfolg von Gruppenschulungen für pflegende Angehörige – eine systematische Übersichtsarbeit

In Germany 1,76 million people are in need of care to live at home. Most of them (1,18 mill.) receive that care from members of their own families. German informal caregiver training programs are paid for by the compulsory long term care insurance. Nevertheless there are only very few published national curricula or evaluations of training courses. Therefore we reviewed international evaluations of group support programs for informal caregivers.

Electronic databases (Medline and Cinahl) were searched for controlled trials, published in English, German or French from 2000- 2013 inclusive. The authors of this review located and scored 15 studies according to set criteria. There are five studies with more than 200 probands. These studies indicate improvement in the areas of satisfaction from the work, quality of life and level of stress. Nevertheless the admissions for nursing homes increased in one of them.

Other studies show some significant findings that could improve the mood of depression, the quality of life, empowerment and the response to behavioral disorders of their family members. It is not always possible to ascertain the indirect effects on strain, distress or social support.

As the researchers used different assessments, it is not possible to combine the results of the studies. We lack widely accepted sensitive assessment instruments and assessments, which target the contents of the courses. The studies show how caregiver training programs can be combined with other support offers.