Introduction: Family caregivers of dependent elderly individuals devote much of their time and
energy to caring for another person, which can expose them to care overburden. The increase in
the caregiver's stress levels, due to their attributions, can contribute to the neglect of their own care.
In this sense, interventions are necessary to minimize the negative impact that the overload can
cause in the lives of these caregivers. Objective: To analyze the effect of a psychoeducational
intervention program on the burden of family caregivers of dependent elderly individuals. Method:
Study with quantitative approach, longitudinal and analytical design, conducted in the city of
Palmas, Tocantins. For such, it was divided in two stages: 1) Cross-sectional study for
characterization of the family caregivers as to their burden; 2) Quasi-experimental study, without
control group, with pre and post-intervention evaluation. The sample consisted of 27 family
caregivers of dependent elderly people and the burden was evaluated by means of the Zarit scale.
A psychoeducational intervention called "Programa cuidar de mim para cuidar do outro" was
carried out as a strategy to reduce the overload and encourage self-care, which occurred via
telephone support, individually, once a week, during five weeks. In the first and fifth week after
the intervention the overload scale was reapplied and the effect of the intervention was analyzed.
Data were double-tabulated in Excel 2010, treated in STATA 15.0, and significance level p≤ 0.05
was adopted for all tests. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to verify normality of overload, Fisher test to
compare proportions, T-test for means and paired T-test for means of overload at pre-intervention
(T0), post-intervention - 6th session (T1) and post-intervention - 10th session (T2). Results: The
caregivers presented a high prevalence of burden (77.78%), especially among the women (82.6%),
aged (mean of 51.88 years), who reported being sons (81.82%), presenting with multimorbidity
(100%) and polypharmacy (100%), who were not trained to care (100%), who dedicated more than
12 hours a day to care (77.78%), and reported satisfaction with care (16.30%). Five caregivers
participated in the intervention, who presented a reduction in the levels of burden between the pre
(mean = 47.33 points) and post-intervention (mean = 42 points) (p = 0.033). About acceptability,
the five family caregivers investigated reported satisfaction and usefulness of the intervention
program, showing that expectations were exceeded. Conclusion: The psychoeducational
intervention showed a decrease in the levels of burden of family caregivers at the 10th follow-up
session, indicating the importance of fully carrying out the proposed intervention, since its effect
is established over time, i.e., the caregivers need time for behavioral changes to occur that reflect
in the reduction of caregiving burden.
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