A randomized trial of a nurse-led educational intervention in patients with heart failure and their caregivers: impact on caregiver outcomes

Aims Psychoeducational interventions focusing on self-management of heart failure (HF) patients may improve patient health knowledge and reduce hospitalizations, but data regarding the effects on caregiver outcomes are inconclusive.Methods and results We conducted a single-centre, randomized controlled study to evaluate the effect of a nurse-led educational intervention in dyads of recently hospitalized HF patients and their caregivers on caregiver burden, feelings of guilt and health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). Dyads were randomized to usual care plus intervention group 1 (IG-1) or 2 (IG-2) or usual care only (control group, CG). Educational sessions in IG-1 and IG-2 were initiated before hospital discharge and continued with combination of home visits and telephone sessions in IG-1, or telephone sessions only in IG-2, delivered on regular intervals for 6 months. Caregiver burden was assessed by Heart Failure Caregiver Questionnaire (HF-CQ v5.0), guilt by Caregiver Guilt Questionnaire (CGQ), and QOL by EuroQol EQ-5D. Fifty-seven patient/caregiver dyads were included: 12 in IG-1, 18 in IG-2, and 27 in CG, of whom 11, 16, and 20, respectively, completed the study. All domains of HF-CQ and CGQ improved in IG-1 and IG-2 at 6 months, whereas deteriorated in CG (all P < 0.01). EQ-5D improved in IG-1 and IG-2 only in visual analogue scale part (P = 0.002), but not in the descriptive part.Conclusion A nurse-led, 6-month educational intervention on recently hospitalized HF patients/caregiver dyads, delivered through either combined home visits and telephone sessions or telephone sessions only, reduced caregiver burden and feelings of guilt, with lesser effect on HR-QoL.