Ber1:P69 - Integrated face-to-face rehabilitation and telerehabilitation decreased the perceived burden of care among older family caregivers
2. Health sciencesJohanna Nuojua1
1 The Social Insurance Institution of Finland, The Research Unit
Introduction
Typically, both family caregivers and the family members they are caring for are older adults. Family caregivers often find caregiving quite burdensome. The ongoing demographic change in Europe causes a growing need for effective rehabilitation services for the increasing number of older family caregivers. The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) has also integrated telecommunication into several of its own rehabilitation services
Methods
This study (NCT05678946) examines whether participating in Kela's 5-month integrated face-to-face rehabilitation and telerehabilitation services (INTEG)(n=62) has an effect on the well-being of family caregivers. The changes were compared to those of participating in: 1) short-term Social Holidays for family caregivers (n=67) and 2) Kela's long-term face-to-face rehabilitation services for family caregivers and care recipients (n=66). The burden of informal care among 195 family caregivers was assessed using ASCOT-Carer and COPE index questionnaires twice: at baseline and after 5–8 months. The changes were analyzed with a paired samples t-test and analysis of covariance.
Results
In the INTEG-group, a positive within-group change was observed in ASCOT-Carer (p=0.031). ASCOT-Carer also showed positive change for the INTEG-group compared to Social Holidays (p=0.025) and face-to-face rehabilitation services (p=0.038). However, neither within- nor between-group differences were observed in COPE index.
Conclusions
Participating in integrated face-to-face rehabilitation and telerehabilitation services seems to decrease the burden of care among older family caregivers to some extent. In this study, the effect was seen when using ASCOT-Carer questionnaire. However, COPE Index was less responsive