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Efficacy of a self‐help manual in increasing resilience in carers of adults with depression in Thailand
Author(s) -
McCann Terence V.,
Songprakun Wallapa,
Stephenson John
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.911
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1447-0349
pISSN - 1445-8330
DOI - 10.1111/inm.12178
Subject(s) - randomized controlled trial , repeated measures design , intervention (counseling) , mental health , depression (economics) , medicine , clinical psychology , psychological resilience , analysis of variance , test (biology) , psychology , resilience (materials science) , psychiatry , psychotherapist , paleontology , statistics , physics , surgery , mathematics , biology , economics , macroeconomics , thermodynamics
Caring for a person with a mental illness can have adverse effects on caregivers; however, little is known about how best to help such caregivers. The aim of the present study was to examine the efficacy of a cognitive behaviour therapy‐guided self‐help manual in increasing resilience in caregivers of individuals with depression, in comparison to caregivers who receive routine support only. A randomized, controlled trial was conducted, following CONSORT guidelines, with 54 caregivers allocated to parallel intervention (self‐help manual) (n = 27) or control (standard support) (n = 27) groups. Resilience was assessed at baseline, post‐test (week 8), and follow up (week 12). Intention‐to‐treat analyses were undertaken. Repeated‐measures ANOVA indicated a significant difference in resilience scores between the three time points, showing a large effect. Pairwise comparisons between intervention and control groups indicated resilience to be significantly different between baseline and post‐test, and between baseline and follow up, but not between post‐test and follow up. Overall, the intervention group showed a slightly greater increase in resilience over time than the control group; however, the time–group interaction was not significant. Guided self‐help is helpful in improving caregivers’ resilience and could be used as an adjunct to the limited support provided to carers by mental health nurses and other clinicians.