The Effect of Family-Centered Empowerment program on Activities of Daily Living of Patients with Stroke and Family Caregivers Burden

Purpose: Dependence of stroke survivors regarding the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) imposes a burden on family caregivers. The study evaluated the effect of the family-centered empowerment model on the ability to perform ADL of patients with stroke and their family caregivers’ burden.
Methods: This is a randomized controlled clinical trial conducted in Tehran, capital of Iran, in Feb 2017 to Apr 2018. A total of 90 pairs of stroke patients and their family caregivers was selected and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups through tossing the coin. Intervention was performed in four sessions of an hour in four consecutive days during hospitalization for patients and their family caregivers based on family-centered empowerment model. Data analysis was done by using SPSS v. 22. T-test, Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test, Mann-Whitney test, and Friedman test were used for data analysis. In all statistical tests, the significance level was set to 0.05.
Results: The ability to perform ADL in patients with stroke in the intervention and control groups was not significant before, immediately, and two weeks after the intervention, while the ability to perform ADL of patients with stroke in the intervention group increased significantly two months after the intervention compared with the control group (66±35.95 versus 51.31±36.28, p=0.047).
The family caregivers` burden was not significantly different in the intervention and control groups before and immediately after intervention, while the family caregivers` burden significantly decreased in the intervention group two weeks (29.55±15.38 versus 38.77±18.53, p=0.012) and two months after the intervention compared with the control group (22.95±15.68 versus 36.11±18.88, p<0.001).
Conclusions: Community-based nurses and family nurse practitioners can use this model to empower the family caregivers of stroke patients, reduce the burden of family caregivers, and improve their ADL and health