The Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy-Based Social Work Intervention on the burden of formal caregivers among Alborz city nursing home

Objectives: As the elderly population increases and their ability decreases, the need for nursing homes and formal caregivers becomes more significant. Caregivers are under the pressure and burden of care due to the provision of services. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy-based social work intervention on the extent of care burden among the formal caregivers of the elderly. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest-follow-up design. The statistical population of the study consisted of the formal caregivers of the elderly. The study sample consisted of 30 caregivers (15 males & 15 females), who were selected by convenience sampling method. The study participants received seven 90-minute intervention sessions (cognitive-behavioral therapy-based social work). The intervention protocol was validated by the Agree form using expert opinion evaluation. For data collection, the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview, short-form was used. This scale has been validated by Rajabi Mashhadi et al. (2014) in Iran. Results: The care burden score of the explored participants equaled 24.20 and fell at the average level. The repeated-measures analysis of variance data revealed that the presented intervention provided a significant difference in physical (P=0.004) and psychological (P=0.05) dimensions between the two stages of pretest and posttest. However, the process of variable alternations remained constant until the follow-up stage. Discussion: The obtained data indicated that the provided cognitive-behavioral therapy-based social work intervention with the dimensions of identifying and accessing supportive resources, modifying attitude, and relaxation training could reduce the burden of care in physical, psychological, and general aspects among the study subjects. Therefore, the wider use of this intervention by specialists could affect the care burden of formal caregivers. The present research results also highlighted the necessity for the attention of nursing home officials, social policymakers, and professionals active in the field of the elderly.