Empowering Caregivers: Felician University’s Caregiver Advocacy Program!

As a student in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at Felician University, Akua Danso-Manu did her doctoral project with the caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. Dr. Danso-Manu worked with Geriatric Specialists in North Jersey. The staff at the practice assisted her in recruiting caregivers. Her project measured their levels of stress pre and post project intervention.

Dr. Danso-Manu utilized the Zarit Burden Interview tool to assess stressors among caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. Caregivers identified at risk were provided with meaningful resources for them to utilize with the goal of reducing distress associated with the caregiver role. There were seven caregivers who were primary caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients over the age of 18 that met the criteria for receiving a package of resources to assist them in caring for their significant others. The resource package included information on support groups, respite care, day care, reiki therapy, transportation, and nutritional delivery services.

The theoretical framework used in this project was the Caregiver Distress Model, adapted from Roy’s Adaptation Model (RAM), which emphasizes the relationship between the individual and their environment, and how stressors in the environment can impact the individual’s adaptive responses. The desired outcome was to reduce stress of the caregivers as measured by the post survey results. A comparison of pre and post caregiver survey results, showed a decrease in the overall mean scores of the survey, (pre-score M=44.5, post-score M=36.3). This decrease in mean scores also led to a level of stress reduction from “moderate-severe Burden” (score of 41-60) to “mild-moderate Burden” (Score of 21-40) as determined by the Zarit Burden Interview Scoring Tool. Further analysis of seven other domains of the tool showed a difference in the domain of “Burden in Relationship.”