PSYCHOEDUCATION FOR CAREGIVERS WITH CHRONICALLY ILL SPOUSES
PSYCHOEDUCATION FOR CAREGIVERS WITH CHRONICALLY ILL SPOUSES

Author(s): Emilia Mazurek
Subject(s): Pedagogy
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: psychoeducation; illness; caregiving; informal caregiver; spouses
Summary/Abstract: Spouses of the chronically ill take on the role of informal caregivers. However, as they are seldom prepared to fulfil these new duties, they experience them as a burden, and often develop emotional and psychosomatic problems. Caregivers are “second-order patients” (Lederberg, 1998, p. 981), rarely receiving professional support. One form of effective support is psychoeducation, which integrates psychotherapeutic and educational interventions (Lukens & McFarlane, 2004). The present author’s aim is to review selected theories and empirical research on the psychoeducation of informal caregivers. Key goals of psychoeducation include expanding knowledge and skills in the fields of an illness and its treatment, emotional discharge, communication with medical staff, and self-help in crisis. There is increasing evidence that psychoeducation has a positive impact for caregivers in the following areas: decreased burden, diminished psychological stress, increased capacity to cope, and enhanced social connection (Lukens & McFarlane, 2004; Pharoah et al., 2010). Research results and good practices may form the basis for implementing new solutions in the psychoeducation of informal carers in Poland.

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