Development of an interdisciplinary intervention plan for the informal caregiver: A path of co-construction of recognition

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.1592342206077

• Palavras-chave: Family caregiver; care plan; interdisciplinary practice;Community-Based Participatory Research

• Keywords: Family caregiver; care plan; interdisciplinary practice;Community-Based Participatory Research

• Abstract:

  The demographic revolution of the last twenty years has made informal caregivers the invisible backbone of the long-term care delivery system. The necessary and fair request for social and political recognition of this agent was finally granted in 2019, the year in which the status of informal caregiver was regulated in Portugal for those who provide care at home to dependent people, without receiving any remuneration. The present study aims to develop an interdisciplinary intervention plan for the informal caregiver. An action research study that included three stages: focus group to analyze needs, interventions and indicators; Delphi panel to validate the content of the intervention plan; focus group with experimental application of the intervention plan on a computer platform. It integrated 82 health and social professionals from the Azores archipelago and 9 experts from different professional areas. At the end of each stage, the proposed changes were incorporated.

  The intervention plan is organized according to the needs of the informal caregiver, having been grouped into 5 domains: training for the role; material and structural resource needs; social support needs; family support and individual management needs; informal caregiver health support needs. In each domain, types of specific needs were established, for which standardized interventions were defined to respond to them.

  The indicators that emerged were organized according to the principles of structure, process and result, allowing a transversal monitoring of the needs, interventions and results obtained for the informal caregiver.

  The elaboration of an interdisciplinary intervention plan for the informal caregiver was a challenge in its construction process. However, it allows a comprehensive assessment of the informal caregiver, in order to support an articulated response and directed to the professional area that is best able to meet their needs.

• Número de páginas: 20