View clinical trials related to Informal Caregivers.
Filter by:This study is entitled Quality of Life for Carers through a Person-Centred Technological Solution, whose acronym is TechQoL4Carers. The goal of this pilot study is to develop an innovative technological solution (TechQoL4Carers) to improve the Quality of Life (QoL), occupational balance, impact of care, self-management of health, and empowerment of informal caregivers of older people or people with disability. The main question it aims to answer is: Will the routine use of TechQoL4Carers platform have a positive impact on the daily life of informal caregivers? The study will examine these variables in a specific way: QoL, impact of care and burden, occupational balance, health self-management, and empowerment. Informal caregivers will participate in a participatory process of development, testing and validation of the technological platform TechQoL4Carers. At the beginning and end of the study, participants will be asked to answer questionnaires to capture their perspective on the central variables of the study and on the utility and usability of the technology. Then, for three months, participants will: - use TechQoL4Carers platform on their mobile phone or computer, - wear the Xiaomi Smart Band 7/8, - provide weekly reports of health and care related quality of life, - and receive personalized recommendations and training materials. At the end, they will also participate in an in-depth interview on the impact of the project on their daily activities.
As of 2020, 53 million Americans provide unpaid care to an individual with a disability. One commonly performed activity of daily living (ADL) provided by informal caregivers is assisted transfers, which requires moving an individual from one surface to another. Approximately 94% of informal caregivers who assist with ADLs to persons with adult-onset chronic physical disabilities affecting mobility reported musculoskeletal discomfort, with pain and discomfort made worse by performing caregiving activities. Although many informal caregivers assist with transfers, most have never received any formal training in proper manual lifting or mechanical lifting techniques. Improper transfer techniques can be detrimental to not only caregiver health but also to the persons they assist resulting in shoulder injury, bruising and pain from manual lift techniques, hip fractures from falls, and skin tears from shear force that occurs with sliding during transfers. Current standard of care provides limited in-person training of caregivers, as most of the rehabilitation process is client-focused. When training is provided clinicians have no means to objectively evaluate if proper techniques are being performed at discharge or when the caregiver and care recipient return home. For this reason, an outcome measure called the Caregiver Assisted Transfer Technique Instrument (CATT) was developed to provide a quick, objective way to evaluate proper technique of caregivers who provide transfer assistance to individuals with disabilities. The CATT evaluates the caregiver's performance on setup, quality of the task performance, and results. After a formal assessment through stakeholder review involving clinicians, informal caregivers, and individuals with physical disabilities who require transfer assistance, the CATT was expanded to include two versions; one that evaluates manual lift technique (CATT-M) and one that evaluates mechanical lift techniques (CATT-L). However, the CATT must undergo further testing with informal caregivers and the individuals they assist to determine if the CATT is a reliable, valid, and responsive tool for identifying skill deficits in caregivers performing assisted transfers. The purpose of this study is to establish the psychometric properties (reliability, validity, and responsiveness) of the CATT and to evaluate the effects of an individualized training session for participants who have transfer technique deficits as identified by the CATT. The long-term goal of this research is to develop the CATT so that it can be used as an objective indicator of transfer performance as well as guide training and educational interventions for informal caregivers to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal pain and injury associated with assisted transfers.