Caregiver Burnout Prevention at a Midwest Parkinson's Foundation

Abstract

Parkinson’s Disease is a rapidly growing neurological condition that can affect participation in everyday activities. As more individuals become diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, the number of those caring for people with Parkinson’s Disease also increases. Caregivers can become susceptible to caregiver burnout, which is a stress that accumulates over time, produces a negative outlook on caregiving, and affects many areas of one’s life. Literature suggests that key areas to caregiver burnout prevention are daily care hours, education on disease, social support, and mindfulness. Through a needs assessment of a midwest Parkinson’s organization, a gap was identified between where the organization wanted to be with caregiver burnout prevention and where it was. The goal of this capstone project was to equip the organization with caregiver burnout prevention resources and strategies to promote caregiver health, well-being, and quality of life. Based on the needs assessment, two educational sessions were created and delivered to participants at three caregiver support groups over the topics of mindfulness, medication management, Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT), and respite. Program outcomes were measured via pre- and post- surveys, and this data was analyzed through independent t-tests. There was a statistically significant difference with a large effect size for mindfulness, medication management, and respite educational sessions. Outcomes suggested that caregiver confidence and satisfaction in applying burnout prevention strategies greatly increased following the educational sessions.