| While much evidence exists documenting the impact of care giving on the health and well-being of those who provide it, much less is known regarding techniques for managing or reducing caregiver burden. Accordingly, this research tested a 4-week intervention that used an adapted form of dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) to bring about a fundamental change in thinking and behavior through the use of a set of coping techniques and skills targeting mindfulness and distress tolerance. The research question tested the effectiveness of coping skills taken from Linehan's DBT program in relieving symptoms of caregiver burden. A sample of 5 adult caregivers from 3 western Colorado communities participated in the exploratory study and completed a demographic questionnaire, the Caregiving Appraisal Scales (CAS), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and Quality of Life Inventory (QOLI) to establish baseline metrics; and the CAS, MBI, and QOLI were administered again after 4 weeks of DBT as post-tests. Statistically significant Pearson correlations were observed between CAS guilt and MBI emotional exhaustion and also between MBI personal accomplishment and MBI depersonalization in both pre and post data. However, Wilcoxon signed ranks tests failed to indicate statistically significant pre/post differences on the CAS, MBI, or QOLI to directly support the effectiveness of the intervention. Due to the small sample size the findings were inconclusive, but some evidence suggested that DBT may positively impact caregiver burden. The implications for positive social change related to reductions in caregiver burden leading to improved quality of life for the caregiver and the care recipient remain but were generally unsupported by this study. Future studies using a qualitative research design would likely be more effective. |
