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The Expert Caregiver Intervention Targeting Former Caregivers in Finland: A Co-Design and Feasibility Study Using Mixed Methods

Informal caregivers face risks of social isolation. Given the high prevalence of informal caregivers in Europe, a considerable proportion of the population are also former caregivers. The Finnish Expert Caregiver intervention sought to train former caregivers to become volunteers aiming to support c...

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Autores principales: Åkerman, Sarah, Nyqvist, Fredrica, Coll-Planas, Laura, Wentjärvi, Annika
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8508176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34639437
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910133
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author Åkerman, Sarah
Nyqvist, Fredrica
Coll-Planas, Laura
Wentjärvi, Annika
author_facet Åkerman, Sarah
Nyqvist, Fredrica
Coll-Planas, Laura
Wentjärvi, Annika
author_sort Åkerman, Sarah
collection PubMed
description Informal caregivers face risks of social isolation. Given the high prevalence of informal caregivers in Europe, a considerable proportion of the population are also former caregivers. The Finnish Expert Caregiver intervention sought to train former caregivers to become volunteers aiming to support current caregivers through mainly peer support. The aims of this mixed method non-controlled exploratory intervention study were to assess the feasibility of the Finnish Expert Caregiver intervention by co-designing and implementing the intervention, and by assessing demand and practicality with special attention to the impact of COVID-19. The findings imply that the intervention was feasible as it resulted in a co-designed training course consisting of 30 h with 25 participants enrolling and 19 of them trying volunteering activities. The participants reported high scores on well-being at all timepoints of study, however, without statistically significant differences. The analysis of the focus group interviews revealed that the Expert Caregivers experienced the intervention as meaningful and offered them a sense of belonging with the other participants. Apart from using their caregiving past as an asset, the participants also took advantage of other personal skills and resources. Risks of adverse effects were related to the participants’ expectations on their own contribution, demanding peer support recipients, poorly functioning peer support groups, and insufficient distance to one’s caregiving past. The participants stressed the need for continuing support from intervention facilitators. Future studies with larger samples should investigate whether the effects differ between subgroups of participants and explore the perspective of the peer support recipients.
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spelling pubmed-85081762021-10-13 The Expert Caregiver Intervention Targeting Former Caregivers in Finland: A Co-Design and Feasibility Study Using Mixed Methods Åkerman, Sarah Nyqvist, Fredrica Coll-Planas, Laura Wentjärvi, Annika Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Informal caregivers face risks of social isolation. Given the high prevalence of informal caregivers in Europe, a considerable proportion of the population are also former caregivers. The Finnish Expert Caregiver intervention sought to train former caregivers to become volunteers aiming to support current caregivers through mainly peer support. The aims of this mixed method non-controlled exploratory intervention study were to assess the feasibility of the Finnish Expert Caregiver intervention by co-designing and implementing the intervention, and by assessing demand and practicality with special attention to the impact of COVID-19. The findings imply that the intervention was feasible as it resulted in a co-designed training course consisting of 30 h with 25 participants enrolling and 19 of them trying volunteering activities. The participants reported high scores on well-being at all timepoints of study, however, without statistically significant differences. The analysis of the focus group interviews revealed that the Expert Caregivers experienced the intervention as meaningful and offered them a sense of belonging with the other participants. Apart from using their caregiving past as an asset, the participants also took advantage of other personal skills and resources. Risks of adverse effects were related to the participants’ expectations on their own contribution, demanding peer support recipients, poorly functioning peer support groups, and insufficient distance to one’s caregiving past. The participants stressed the need for continuing support from intervention facilitators. Future studies with larger samples should investigate whether the effects differ between subgroups of participants and explore the perspective of the peer support recipients. MDPI 2021-09-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8508176/ /pubmed/34639437 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910133 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Åkerman, Sarah
Nyqvist, Fredrica
Coll-Planas, Laura
Wentjärvi, Annika
The Expert Caregiver Intervention Targeting Former Caregivers in Finland: A Co-Design and Feasibility Study Using Mixed Methods
title The Expert Caregiver Intervention Targeting Former Caregivers in Finland: A Co-Design and Feasibility Study Using Mixed Methods
title_full The Expert Caregiver Intervention Targeting Former Caregivers in Finland: A Co-Design and Feasibility Study Using Mixed Methods
title_fullStr The Expert Caregiver Intervention Targeting Former Caregivers in Finland: A Co-Design and Feasibility Study Using Mixed Methods
title_full_unstemmed The Expert Caregiver Intervention Targeting Former Caregivers in Finland: A Co-Design and Feasibility Study Using Mixed Methods
title_short The Expert Caregiver Intervention Targeting Former Caregivers in Finland: A Co-Design and Feasibility Study Using Mixed Methods
title_sort expert caregiver intervention targeting former caregivers in finland: a co-design and feasibility study using mixed methods
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8508176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34639437
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910133
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