The effectiveness of stress management on quality of life in the disabled elderly caregivers

Due to increase of elderly people in the world and the fact that most of them are disabled، require special consideration and prefer to be cared after at home، paying attention to the caregivers and reducing their stress seems necessary. This study is aimed to assess the effect of stress management on improving of the quality of life of family caregivers. This research is a quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest. The participants were 33 family caregivers that have been selected and randomly divided into two groups as experimental and control. The experimental group participated 10 sessions of 3 hour stress management classes weekly. SF36 questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life. The collected data were evaluated by covariance (ANOVA) and were analyzed by SPSS software. Results of the study showed experimental group scores significant increase in comparison with control group (P < 0. 05) in all sub-scales (body pain، general health perceptions، emotional role functioning، social role functioning، mental health) except physical functioning & physical role functioning). Subsequently the results indicated that stress management is considered as an important part of the treatment.