KU News Release

Researcher at KU School of Nursing gives family caregivers a checkup

Cynthia Teel

LAWRENCE — Following hospitalization, most stroke survivors come back home again. Upon return, some require support from family and friends to accomplish everyday tasks such as bathing, dressing and eating.

Although rewarding, providing such care to the survivor of a significant stroke often can be stressful or even damaging to a caregiver’s own health — especially because many who provide care are older adult spouses or partners.

Now, research in progress at the University of Kansas is shedding light on ways to lessen strain on care providers.

“Being older includes vulnerabilities of isolation, of physical strength and of stamina,” said Cynthia Teel, assistant dean and associate professor at the KU School of Nursing. “Caregivers themselves are at risk for physical and emotional health problems. That’s the focus of our research — how best to promote the health of caregivers so they can continue to provide care in the home and maintain their own health.”

Teel is investigating the value of a telephone-based intervention program for family caregivers who are 55 years or older, dubbed Self-Care TALK. Under the initiative, a caregiver and a nurse spend about 30 minutes each week discussing issues such as diet, exercise and self-esteem.

“Simple, relatively brief phone conversations with caregivers are a very cost efficient and beneficial intervention, if we can keep people healthier and keep them in their homes longer,” said Teel. “Almost everyone feels that they are the best ones to provide the care most effectively, most lovingly and most correctly.”

The KU researcher has spent the past 15 years focusing her inquiry on older adults, inspired by prior experience in neuroscience nursing. “There was a lack of real substantive interventions to provide family members who are caring for loved ones at home,” Teel said.

The American Heart Association is funding Teel’s study of those attending to stroke survivors. In a parallel study, supported by a grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, Teel is researching how Self-Care TALK can benefit those caring for a spouse or partner diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

Both investigations recruit family members and friends early in the caregiving experience. Caregivers complete questionnaires before engaging in six weeks of telephone interviews with a nurse that focus on self-care and personal health. Following the phone contact, caregivers fill out questionnaires two and four months later.

Teel has found initial results of Self-Care TALK to be encouraging. “The participants in the pilot study were very enthusiastic about the intervention, and said it was very helpful to them,” she said.

Based on such reactions, Self-Care TALK may be expanded someday as a lifeline program for family caregivers. Furthermore, Teel says she could eventually transform her research into a book for caregivers based on materials provided to participants in the current study.

“They told us stories about keeping the notebook of materials next to the phone as a constant reminder that they needed to take care of themselves — that it was just as important as caring for their loved one,” said Teel. “But also, that they weren’t alone in this. That there were other people who could help, who were happy to talk to them, who were available to them.”

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.