In September 2019 researchers from the UK, Germany and Australia published their review of the medical scientific literature to assess the effectiveness of caregiver interventions to support the recovery of older people discharged from the hospital. A total of 23 studies, involving 4,695 individuals, met the search criteria, with 21 of the studies involving a hospital admission for stroke. Interventions consisted of training and/or skills-based programmes, with or without home visits/telephone follow-up. It was noted that the quality of evidence was deemed to be moderate to low. Results showed that at 12 months those carers who had received training may have reduced anxiety levels as well as a reduced feeling that the stroke victim was a burden when compared to carers who had received no training. Although these caregiver interventions did not appear to provide any benefit to the stroke victim’s quality of life at 12 months, they did appear to reduce their level of anxiety.
Smith TO et al. Caregiver Interventions for Adults Discharged From the Hospital: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2019 Sep;67(9):1960-1969.