The Effect of Post-discharge Education Program on Self-Efficacy and Satisfaction of Family Caregivers of Patients with COVID-19

The COVID-19 disease is currently one of the most important concerns of societies. Continuation of self-care behaviors after discharge by patients and their families is one of the factors affecting health promotion.

The present study was performed with aim to investigate the effect of the post-discharge training program on the satisfaction and self-efficacy of family caregivers of patients with COVID-19.

This clinical trial study was conducted on 68 caregivers of patients with COVID-19 who were discharged from Valiasr Hospital in Birjand, Iran in 2020. The research units were randomly divided into two groups. Standard educational content was made available to the intervention group through the WhatsApp messenger. Then, two phone calls were made to the caregivers. The control group only received the hospital's routine cares. Data collection was done using demographic information form, general self-efficacy and information satisfaction questionnaire. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The mean age scores of participants in the intervention and control groups were 39.88±16.53 and 47.02±14.82 years, respectively. Since there was significant difference between change in before-after scores in the two groups, the educational method in the intervention group was more effective in increasing information satisfaction than routine care (p<0.0001). Also, the mean total self-efficacy score in the intervention group increased from 95.26±20.37 to 97.79±18.02, which was significantly different from the control group (p=0.01).

Implications for Practice:

 Providing post-discharge support and education to family caregivers of patients with COVID-19 improves the caregivers' experience through increased satisfaction and self-efficacy.