The Effect of Psycho-Educational Interventions on the Quality of Life of the Family Caregivers of the Patients with Spinal Cord Injury: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: family caregivers usually report the reduction of their life quality due to one of thefamily member’s spinal cord injury. thus, the present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness ofpsycho-educational interventions on the life quality of the family caregivers of the patients with spinalcord injury.methods: the present randomized controlled trial was conducted on 72 family caregivers who hadthe primary responsibility of taking care of the patients with spinal cord injury. the participants wererandomly divided into intervention (n=36) and control groups (n=36). the intervention group wasinvolved in 90-minute educational sessions held once a week for four weeks. both groups completedsf-36 questionnaire before and 2 and 6 weeks after the intervention. then, the data were analyzedthrough independent t-test, chi-square, and repeated measures anova.results: all the caregivers had low quality of life and the lowest mean score was related to mentalhealth in both groups. after the intervention, various dimensions of life quality had improved in theintervention group’s caregivers compared to the control group (p < 0.05).conclusion: the study results revealed the positive effect of psycho-educational interventions on thelife quality of the caregivers of the patients with spinal cord injury. according to the results, theauthorities have to pay special attention to the problems of this group and educational interventionshave to be continuously followed.