The Impact of Psycho-Educational Trainingon the Psychosocial Adjustment of Caregivers ofOsteogenesis Imperfecta Patients

OBJECTIVE To investigate the impact of a psycho-educational program developed for the caregivers of patients diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). METHODS The participants consisted of 16 caregivers. The study was designed as a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test type study consisting of 10 semi-structured three-hour training sessions. The data were collected using the "Introductory Information Form" and appropriate scales (Burden Interview, Coping Strategies Scale, Problem-Solving Inventory and Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale). The results were evaluated by descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, one-way variance analysis and Bonferroni analysis. RESULTS Psychosocial adjustment levels of the caregivers of OI patients before their participation in the educational program were found to be associated with styles of coping with stress, problem-solving skills and care burden. After the psycho-educational training, the majority of the participants reported favorable changes in their lives. Following the offered psycho-education resulted in positive changes in the mean scores of the caregivers (p<0.05). CONCLUSION Before the education program, the participants were not able to deal efficiently with many aspects of their caregiver responsibilities and suffered from an emotional burden due to lack of knowledge. The program appears to have provided them both with support to achieve significant psychosocial transformation and with an opportunity to reconsider their lives in multiple dimensions.