Introduction
The effect of psycho-education program on the family caregivers with multiple sclerosis.
Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic and progressive common disorder of nervous system which causes perturbation in some people in their youth (more in their third decade). The progress of the disease is such that the lack of attention causes the people to be crippled and useless in their productive and energetic ages. Currently, most of the chronic cares (e.g. Multiple Sclerosis) are done at homes and by main caregivers. Given the diverse problems of the disease and its chronic progression, most of the patients and their families are not aware of the coping ways and do not receive proper supporting services. Lack of adequate training and support of primary caregivers of MS patients are the major factors in causing stress, anxiety and increase of burden. Therefore, the MS caregivers have to prepare themselves to support the patient and his/her family during the immense physical, psychological, and social crisis and address the requirements of patient and the family. Therefore, the treatment team members like psychiatric nurses can help these vulnerable people to overcome psychiatric pressures effectively not only by their caring and referral role but also through their supportive characteristic which helps the patients to improve their clinical status, together with their social, familial, and work adaptation. there are different types of family interventions to reduce the familial healthcare burdens like: family behavioral management, family group psychotherapy intervention, family therapy and etc. which motivated the researcher to benefit the family group psychotherapy technique to control and improve the healthcare burden. Following the recent changes in the treatment of chronic diseases recommends the past interventions and family group psychotherapy educations to control the health care burdens which these interventions are based on supportive and educational interventions.
Research Methodology
This study is based on a clinical trial in two groups and three stages. After demanding the recommendation letter from the department of Nursing and Midwifery of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, the researcher referred to the management of neurology clinics to present the purpose of the study and to start the sampling. The neurology clinics of Alzahra University Hospital (related to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences) and also one of the neurology specialist’s clinics in downtown (where is referred by MS patients and their family) are selected as scope of the study for the data collection. The data collection process is done from the family members who are the main caregivers and are responsible for all supports. The samples were selected randomly and then categorized into two groups named as experimental and control. The methodology of the study is quantitative approach and the survey study (two part questionnaire) is selected for the data collection.
Sample of the Study
The all family members of MS patients including male and female who refer to neurology clinics and meet the criteria of the study.
sample of the study
The sample size of the study is 32 persons which is the result of consultation with the specialists of statistics. The data collection instrument in this study is two questionnaires which the first one includes two parts (A and B). Part A is related to demographic information of caregiver including (sex, age, marital status, education level, employment, relation to the patient, and the duration of caregiving) and the patient including (age, sex, marital status, education level, employment, duration of sickness, severity of illness, and the rate of hospitalization one month after and before intervention). Part B contains the questions regarding the evaluation of burden of ZARIT caregiver which includes 22 items which the scales of each item are as follows:
• Never 0
• Seldom 1
• Sometimes 2
• Usually 3
• Always 4
o The lowest score of healthcare burden is zero which means there is no burden.
o The highest score is 88 which means the highest rate of burden.
o The score between 61-88 means severe burden.
o The score between 31-60 is the average burden.
o The score under 30 is the slight burden.