Investigating the effectiveness of resilience skills training on caregiver burden, resilience and coping strategies in family caregivers of advanced cancer

Investigating the effectiveness of resilience skills training on caregiver burden, resilience and coping strategies in family caregivers of advanced cancer patients

A randomized trial with a control group, with parallel group, double-blind, on 114 cancer patients' caregivers, randomized by random allocation software

The participants will be selected from the clinic and chemotherapy centers of teaching hospitals affiliated to university and divided by convenience sampling with random allocation. The intervention group will participate in workshops. The control group do not receive any intervention. Double blinding is used in data collection, groups segmentation, and data analysis.

Inclusion: 1- Having the age of 18 to 65 years 2- Be literate in reading and writing 3- Absence of severe diseases or psychological problems 4- Having at least three months of care of patient with advanced cancer (stage 3 and 4) Exclusion: 1. Absence in training sessions 2. Psychological and physical crises during the study 3-Being a member of health care team 4. Sudden changes in patient's condition

4 to 5 subgroups of 10-12 patients will be participate in resiliency skills training during 6 consecutive weeks in 6 sessions. The 3-hour sessions will include skills such as self-awareness, problem-solving, anger and stress management, and negative mood coping.

Burden of care, resilience and coping strategies

The list of names of the research community (family caregivers) is prepared according to the list of patients with active cases in the chemotherapy departments where the study carried out. People are first selected based on a table of random numbers. Then, the family caregivers are allocated in two experimental and control groups using random permutation blocks of 4. The first two participants (caregivers) will be assigned to the experimental group and the next two participants (caregivers) will be assigned to the control group. The list of random blocks is set by the statistical consultant using the software. The list of random blocks prepared by the statistical consultant is placed in sealed envelopes and numbered. After selecting the patient's family caregivers, these envelopes are opened in order to assign people to the groups, and based on the content of the envelope, people are entered into one of the two experimental and control groups. This is done by opening all the envelopes until the end of the study. The sequence of random allocation is done by a statistical consultant and based on statistical software. After the sequence is prepared by the statistical consultant, it is put in the envelope by the research assistant. The sealed envelopes are given to another research assistant, and based on the contents of the envelopes, he puts people in one of the two experimental and control groups. In order to make the study blind, the help of a researcher who is not aware of the division of groups is used in collecting data and completing the questionnaires. Also, the statistician performing the data analysis will be blinded to the groups

In order to make the study blind, the help of a researcher who is not aware of the division of groups is used in collecting data and completing the questionnaires. Also, the statistician performing the data analysis will be blinded to the groups