Nursing Intervention Program for Family Caregivers

Ricardo Manuel da Costa Melo¹, Marília dos Santos Rua², Celia Samarina Vilaca de Brito Santos³
(1. Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute, University of Porto, Portugal;
2. School of Health, Aveiro University, Portugal; 
3. School of Nursing of Porto, Portugal)

Abstract: Population aging leads to an increase of dependence, not only due to the loss of autonomy, but also associated with the increase of diseases. In this sense, family caregivers play a crucial role in the care of their love ones, to ensure the satisfaction of basic needs.

The aim of this study is to compile a set of nursing interventions in a structured program, providing emotional and instrumental support necessary to facilitate the transition to the role of family caregivers.

After the analysis of the scientific literature in the field of nursing interventions for caregivers in transition and their needs, we selected the most evidenced ones, which we submitted to the scrutiny of an expert group through the Delphi technique.

This work culminated in the 93 nursing interventions in the field of emotional support and instrumental needs, where all these interventions included achieved high reliability values.

This work presents a consensual and structured nursing intervention program, which intends to be a facilitator of the transition to the role of family caregiver, in order to meet the needs and provide better care to their dependents. Its application to different environments and contexts can lead to optimal results throughout the transition process.

Key words: nursing intervention, emotional support, instrumental support, Delphi technique