A qualitative study to determine the impact of caregiver education and support groups.

Health professionals and government policy-makers have realized the important contribution that family members make in caring for the frail elderly in the community. How can we best support them in this important role? One method of offering assistance to family caregivers is through groups to provide education and mutual support. Interestingly, evaluations of the benefits of these groups, using primarily quantitative scales and instruments, have not produced the expected improvements. Consequently, efforts to secure and maintain funding have been disappointing. However, participants themselves usually claim that the group experience is invaluable. This article describes an alternative approach to evaluating a program involving support groups for family caregivers, using focus group interviews conducted three months following a 10-week program. This was one component of a larger evaluation of the Supporting Caregivers in British Columbia (SCBC) program, funded by the B.C. Ministry of Health.