Contribution of Benson's Relaxation Technique and Brief Psycho-Educational Intervention on Quality of Life of Primary Caregivers of Iranian Children with Chronic Diseases

Abstract

Background: Chronic diseases leave a significant effect on not only the afflicted children but also their parents. Chronic diseases in children may also influence their parents' or primary caregivers' quality of life (QoL).

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of a Brief Psycho-educational Intervention (BPI) and Benson's Relaxation Technique (BRT) on the QoL of primary caregivers of children with chronic diseases.

Methods: The present quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design was conducted on 100 parents with children who had one chronic disease (50 in each of the control and intervention groups) and were admitted to two state-run pediatric hospitals in Tehran, Iran in 2014. The primary caregivers' QoL was assessed using the SF-36 questionnaire before (T1) and four weeks after the intervention (T2). The training was done in four 60-70minute sessions over one week with a 4-week follow-up. Paired t-test, independent t-test, chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to analyze the data.

Results: On average, large effect sizes (ES≥0.80) were observed after interventions in SF-36 subscales that measured the effect of emotional roles. Small (0.20-0.49) to moderate (0.50-0.79) ESs were found in subscales measuring physical functioning, physical-role, bodily pain, vitality, social functioning and mental health. General health scores remained relatively unchanged at T2.

Conclusion: These results suggested that BPI and BRT were effective strategies to improve the QoL of primary caregivers. Furthermore, interventions with low cost, and good safety and outcome could improve the QoL of primary caregivers of children with chronic diseases.

Keywords: Benson's Relaxation Technique; Children; Chronic diseases; Primary caregivers; Quality of life.