BRIEF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY IMPROVES MENTAL HEALTH OF WOMEN CARING FOR CHILDREN WITH SEVERE CHRONIC HEALTH CONDITIONS
Researchers at the University of Louisville found that brief Psychotherapy improves sleep quality in women caring for children with severe health issues.
Lynne Hall, DrPH, RN, associate dean of research and professor at the U of L School of Nursing said that after five therapy sessions, study participants reported significantly decreased depressive symptoms, negative thinking and chronic stressors, and experienced improved sleep quality.
Hall submitted the findings at the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science State of the Science Congress on Nursing Research in Washington, D.C.
?Women caring for children with chronic conditions such as cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis are at high risk for depressive symptoms,? Hall says in a release. ?They have many things to juggle, including caring for the child, administering medications and coordinating physician and therapy visits. They?re stressed and overwhelmed by the amount of care their children require and the number of hours a day it takes.?
For the study, 94 female caregivers with high levels of depressive symptoms were randomly assigned to either a control group or an intervention group, which received five 45 to 60-minute sessions of CBT.
?A lot of these women said they felt very isolated and there was no one who would listen to them,? says Catherine Batscha, DNP, a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner who provided CBT to the study participants. ?Because of their child?s care requirements, the women had difficulty getting together with friends because they couldn?t hire a babysitter who knows about medical equipment or complex health conditions, so people were cut off from a lot of social support.?
The study findings show that women caring for children with serious health conditions should be screened for depression and that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an essential treatment for this population, Hall added.
Erudite Nursing Institute? encourages psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and nurse researchers to further deepen the understanding of this study to address mental issues concerning women caring for children with severe chronic health conditions.
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