The rationale and evidence for virtual methods of training for caregivers a narrative review

Pinky Budhrani-Shani, Nisha J

Abstract

Background: Caregiver (CG) burden has been a growing concern among informal CGs. CG burden has a significant impact on CGs’ health and wellbeing. This paper summarizes prevalence of burden among CGs, mind-body exercises for caregivers, gaps in the current evidence, effects of telehealth-based interventions, limited access and barriers to the widespread use of mind-body interventions for CGs, and strengths and limitations of this review. Methods: Articles, published from 2014 and 2020, were included in the review using PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Science Direct articles. Search terms were caregiver, intervention, burden, mind-body, online, and/or internet. We included experimental, quasi-experimental, descriptive, cross sectional, exploratory, and intervention study designs. Data synthesis included narrative and tabular summary of results. Conclusion: The review highlighted the high prevalence of CG burden of informal CGs of demanding diseases. This review suggests the importance of doing further research on CG burden of informal CGs and its impact on their health and evaluating the effect of web based and telehealth interventions for informal CGs of demanding diseases. Additional research is needed to further enforce the link between CGs burden and effective interventions using telehealth and web-based platforms.