Psychoeducation versus psychoeducation integrated with yoga for family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease: a randomized clinical trial

We evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two psychoeducation programs on the burden and quality of life of family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease: one of psychoeducation alone and the other integrated with yoga. Forty-nine participants were randomly allocated to two groups, 25 to the psychoeducation integrated with yoga group (G1) and 24 to the psychoeducation group (G2). The programs took place online through Google Meet and consisted of eight weekly meetings, lasting 30 min for psychoeducation and 30 min for yoga. Participants were evaluated by the Burden Interview Scale (BI-Zarit), Quality of Life Scale in Alzheimer's Disease-Caregiver Version (CQOL-AD), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Mindfulness and Awareness Scale (MAAS) and a satisfaction survey. Both groups showed reduced overload according to the BI-Zarit scale (F((1)) = 4.435, p = 0.041, η(2)(p) = 0.086) and improvement in the domains of physical health (F((1)) = 4.881, p = 0.032, η(2)(p) = 0.094), memory (F((1)) = 4.192, p = 0.046, η(2)(p) = 0.082) and money (F((1)) = 4.862, p = 0.032, η(2)(p) = 0.094) in the CQOL-AD. We detected a significantly higher improvement of G1 in memory (F((1)) = 4.192, p = 0.046 η(2)(p) = 0.082), money (F((1)) = 7.147, p = 0.010, η(2)(p) = 0.132) and friends (F((1)) = 4.828, p = 0.033, η(2)(p) = 0.093). The G1 when compared to the G2 did not demonstrate significant effects of the BI-Zarit, in the total scores CQOL-AD, MAAS and DASS-21. The study showed that both psychoeducation alone and integrated with yoga reduced the burden of family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease, and that the integration of online yoga practice with psychoeducation potentiated the improvement only in some aspects of the quality of life and subjective perception of burden reduction. Clinical trial registration https://ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/, identifier RBR-794593r, retrospectively registered. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-023-00792-9.