The feasibility of a telephone coaching program on heart failure home management for family caregivers

ObjectivesTo test the feasibility of delivery and evaluate the helpfulness of a coaching heart failure (HF) home management program for family caregivers.BackgroundThe few available studies on providing instruction for family caregivers are limited in content for managing HF home care and guidance for program implementation.MethodThis pilot study employed a mixed methods design. The measures of caregiver burden, confidence, and preparedness were compared at baseline and 3 months post-intervention. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize program costs and demographic data. Content analysis research methods were used to evaluate program feasibility and helpfulness.ResultsCaregiver (n = 10) burden scores were significantly reduced and raw scores of confidence and preparedness for HF home management improved 3 months after the intervention. Content analyses of nurse and caregiver post-intervention data found caregivers rated the program as helpful and described how they initiated HF management skills based on the program.ConclusionsThe program was feasible to implement. These results suggest the coaching program should be further tested with a larger sample size to evaluate its efficacy.