Family caregivers’ subjective poverty: the effect of nutritional guidance on their quality of life

BACKGROUND: Family caregiving may increase the risk of poverty, whereas poverty increases the risk of adverse health outcomes, creating health inequalities. Although the issue is significant, family caregivers’ social determinants of health are little assessed in the previous intervention studies. Therefore, we aimed to assess the effects of individually tailored nutritional guidance on financially vulnerable family caregivers’ quality of life and nutritional status. METHODS: The data were collected between June 2019 to June 2020. Study participants (n = 113) were randomized into intervention (n = 63) and control (n = 50) groups and further divided into those experiencing subjective poverty (n = 36) or financial security (n = 77). The intervention group received individually tailored nutritional guidance. Paired samples t-test, McNemar's test, or alternatives were used to assess the intervention's effectiveness on quality of life and nutrition. RESULTS: The preliminary results show that family caregivers who experienced subjective poverty had a lower overall quality of life (p <.001, 95% CI -12.1, -5.3), physical health (U = 1824, p = .004), psychological health (U = 1780, p = .013), and environmental quality of life (U = 2262, p <.001) at baseline. However, after the intervention, their overall quality of life improved (p = .010, 95% CI -15.9, -2.3). Similarly, there was an improvement in their psychological health (Z= -2.0, p = .047) and environmental quality of life (Z= -2.4, p = .017). Their risk of malnutrition also slightly decreased, and daily fruit and vegetable servings increased without statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Individually tailored nutritional guidance improved the quality of life of family caregivers experiencing subjective poverty. The results may guide healthcare in narrowing health inequalities. KEY MESSAGES: • Individually tailored nutritional guidance can narrow quality of life inequalities among family caregivers of different financial groups. • Healthcare should enable nutritional guidance to family caregivers.