Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain.
University School of Tourism and Education, University of Salamanca, Ávila, Spain.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2021 Apr;33(4):359-372. doi: 10.1017/S104161022000157X. Epub 2020 Sep 7.
This study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a home-based physical exercise program on participants' mental health: psychological symptoms, depression, and burden of female informal caregivers.
In a randomized controlled trial, a sample of 48 female informal primary caregivers completed the entire study, 25 were randomly allocated to the intervention group (IG), and 23 participants to the control group (CG).
Participants in the IG performed two 60-minute-long physical exercise sessions per week (36 weeks) that were supervised by a personal trainer at caregivers' home during 9 months. The CG continued their habitual leisure-time activities.
Subjective burden was assessed by the Zarit Burden Interview. The risk of depression was measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form 15-item version, and psychological symptoms were evaluated by the Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). All participants were evaluated at baseline and at the end of the intervention.
A promising positive impact of the intervention on caregivers' subjective burden and risk of depression was found in the IG. In addition, no significant between-group differences were found in any of nine subscales scores of the SCL-90-R. Finally, care recipients' level of functional independence and area of residence were found to be predictors of the promising positive impact on caregivers' subjective burden and risk of depression.
The present home-based physical exercise intervention that was individually implemented has shown promising results to reduce subjective burden and risk of depression in female caregivers of relatives with dementia. However, future research efforts should elucidate both the particular dose of physical exercise and the particular duration of the intervention that are required to obtain the expected significant positive impact. Finally, future inclusion of psychological approaches, besides physical exercise, might help reduce female caregivers' psychological symptoms.
本研究旨在评估一项基于家庭的体育锻炼计划对参与者心理健康的效果：心理症状、抑郁和女性非正式照护者的负担。
在一项随机对照试验中，48 名女性非正式初级照护者完成了整个研究，25 名随机分配到干预组（IG），23 名参与者分到对照组（CG）。
IG 组每周进行两次 60 分钟的体育锻炼（36 周），由一名私人教练在照护者家中监督，为期 9 个月。CG 继续进行他们的日常休闲活动。
主观负担通过 Zarit 负担访谈进行评估。抑郁风险通过老年抑郁量表短式 15 项版本进行测量，心理症状通过症状清单 90 修订版（SCL-90-R）进行评估。所有参与者在基线和干预结束时进行评估。
干预对 IG 中照护者的主观负担和抑郁风险有积极的影响。此外，SCL-90-R 的九个子量表评分中，IG 和 CG 之间没有显著的组间差异。最后，被照护者的功能独立性水平和居住区域被发现是对照护者主观负担和抑郁风险有积极影响的预测因素。
本研究中的基于家庭的个体化体育锻炼干预显示出了减少女性照顾痴呆症亲属的照护者的主观负担和抑郁风险的良好效果。然而，未来的研究需要阐明获得预期显著积极影响所需的特定剂量的体育锻炼和干预持续时间。最后，未来纳入心理方法，除了体育锻炼外，可能有助于减轻女性照护者的心理症状。
