The Effect of Family-centered Education on Stress and Anxiety in Caregivers of Patients With COVID-19

The COVID-19 disease has contributed to various psychological disorders, such as stress and anxiety, in patients and families. This study was conducted to determine the effect of family-based education on stress and anxiety in the caregivers of COVID-19 patients.

The present clinical trial was conducted on 50 caregivers of patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in Allameh Bohlool Gonabadi Hospital, Gonabad City, Iran, in 2022. Caregivers were selected through convenience sampling and were assigned to either the experimental or the control group (25 caregivers in each group). The former received a family-centered educational program for four days, but the control group received the usual education. The depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS) was completed for both groups before and after the intervention. The obtained data were statistically analyzed in SPSS software, version 22.

The present study revealed no statistically significant difference between the two research groups in terms of the demographic variables (P<0.005). The independent samples t-test showed that the Mean±SD of COVID-19 caregivers’ stress in the experimental group decreased significantly compared to the pre-interventional phase. Yet, this change was insignificant in the control group (P<0.001). Also, the Mann-Whitney U test showed that after the intervention (in the post-test), the Mean±SD of caregivers’ anxiety in the experimental group decreased significantly compared to the pre-test, but this change was not significant in the control group (P<0.001).

According to this research, the family-based educational program can reduce the stress and anxiety of caregivers of hospitalized patients with COVID-19.