“We’re on the same boat” Efficacy of a psychological group intervention on caregivers of patients with dementia

Caregiver burden has been defined as the type of psychophysical stress that caregivers experience related to the problems they face as a result of the status of the care recipient and it is very frequent in caregivers of patients with dementia. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of psychological group intervention on psychophysical stress in caregivers of patients suffering of dementia. The study was conducted in the Center of Cognitive Disorders of Pavullo and Vignola (Modena) from 2011 to 2012. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was administered to patients with dementia for cognitive status evaluation, while a clinical interview and the Zarit Burden scale were used to evaluate psychophysical stress in caregivers. Our study population consisted of n. 27 subjects that were divided into: an Experimental Group (EG n.12), a wait-list Control Group (CG n.8), and a Neutral Group (NG n.7). Statistical analysis showed a trend to worsening of the overall global score of the Zarit scale in CG and NG groups, although not statistically significant. Differently, Zarit Burden score was stable in the EG group, indicating that the psychological group intervention is beneficial in this group. The results derived from a separate analysis of Zarit subscales indicate that the Zarit Personal score was significantly improved in the EG group, while the Zarit-Role scale was worse in NG and CG groups. Therefore, we can point out that subjective experience is significantly improved despite a greater objective load in the EG group. Although the limited sample size, this study supports the benefits of a psychological group intervention on caregiver burden.