Improving Quality of Life among Dependent Elderly through the Development of Health Literacy among Caregivers with ‘Expert Caregiver’ Curriculum, Mueang District, Buriram Province

Abstract

Objectives of this research were to study the effectiveness of and ‘Expert Caregiver’ curriculum for elderly caregivers to improve dependent elderly’s quality of life and happiness index. Caregivers attended the week-long ‘Expert Caregiver’ curriculum which was consisted of 4 days of instructions and 3 days of practices covering topics as follows: 1) standard care for elderly, 2) improving health literacy for elderly, 3) improving elderly’s quality of life, 4) five-dimensional happiness building for elderly, and 5) elderly care practice in all areas. Caregivers who completed the program also received supervisions and empowerment from health care team plus monitoring and evaluation from district health boards (DHB). Instruments used in this study were WHO’s Brief Health Related Quality of Life (WHOQOL) measurement (Thai version) with reliability of 0.84 and happiness index measure with reliability of 0.70. The study was conducted during January and October 2021. The samples included 192 elderly caregivers and 273 dependent elderly. The data were analyzed using paired t-test.

The study showed that, after the intervention, quality of life scores among dependent elderly significantly increased at p=0.00 (t=10.193, p<0.001) and happiness index scores also significantly increased at p=0.00 (t =20.397, p<0.001)

It can be recommended from the results of this study that the ‘Expert Caregiver’ curriculum is effective in improving quality of life and happiness among dependent caregivers under their care. Replications and adaptation of the curriculum in other areas are suggested