Telemonitoring to the Primary Caregiver and Reduction of Their Overload During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Keywords:
COVID-19, Telehealth, Telemonitoring, Caregiver Burden, Primary CaregiverAbstract
Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, primary caregivers of frail and disabled patients experienced increased physical and emotional burden due to prolonged caregiving responsibilities. Telemonitoring emerged as a telehealth strategy aimed at providing continuous follow-up and personalized support.
Objective: To determine whether telemonitoring reduces caregiver burden among primary caregivers of frail and disabled patients enrolled in the Home Care Program (PADOMI) of an EsSalud primary healthcare center during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Materials and Methods: An uncontrolled quasi-experimental study was conducted among 56 primary caregivers. Participants received a two-month intervention consisting of personalized telephone follow-up and group videoconferences led by Family Medicine specialists. Caregiver burden was assessed before and after the intervention using the Zarit Burden Interview, together with sociodemographic variables and descriptive and inferential statistical analyses.
Results: Most caregivers were women (82.1%), direct relatives (83.9%), and devoted a median of 13.8 hours per day to caregiving. Overall caregiver burden decreased from 26.8% at baseline to 14.3% after two months, while severe burden declined from 16.1% to 5.4%. Although Zarit scores showed a downward trend after the intervention, the overall reduction was not statistically significant. Women exhibited higher baseline burden than men, but the magnitude of improvement was comparable between sexes.
Conclusions: Personalized and continuous telemonitoring may contribute to reducing caregiver burden among caregivers of frail and disabled patients. Despite encouraging trends, larger controlled studies with longer follow-up periods are needed to establish its effectiveness.
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References
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