The effect of group spiritual care on quality of life in family caregivers of elders with Alzheimer's disease

Care of patients with Alzheimer''s disease is the most difficult and most challenging type of care and leads to reduced quality of life of caregivers. This research aimed to determine the effect of group spiritual care on quality of life in family caregivers of elders with Alzheimer''s disease. This research was a quasi-experimental study. 100 caregivers were selected by convenience sampling then by using a randomized permuted block method was divided into 3 intervention and control groups. Data was collected before and after the intervention by demographic questionnaire and “Caregiver Quality of Life Scale”. Content and face validity were determined and approved by 12 experts، and reliability was evaluated 0. 78 by test retest within 15 days. Spiritual group care was performed on the intervention group in 5 weekly sessions of 45-60-minutes. Control group 1 took part in the group sessions without any particular interventions performed، and control group 2 received no interventions at all. Data was analyzed by SPSS/16. The results obtained for the three groups showed a significant increase in the mean post-test (69/83±3/59) quality of life in the caregivers in the intervention group compared to the mean pre-test (41/33±11/13) score (P<0. 001). The ANCOVA showed a significant change in quality of life caused by the intervention. Spiritual care has the potential to improve quality of life in family caregivers of the elderly with Alzheimer''s، therefore، it is recommended to be used on the caregivers of these patients.