Abstract
BACKGROUND: Family caregivers of patients undergoing hemodialysis spend a long time to caring for patients because of disability, loss of function, and dependence. Given the chronic nature of the disease, caregivers experience much burden. This study aimed to compare the effects of attending and telenursing interventions on care burden in caregivers of patients undergoing hemodialysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 66 caregivers of patients undergoing hemodialysis in Ostad Motahari Hospital in Jahrom in 2023. Participants were selected by convenience sampling and allocated randomly to the attending nursing intervention (33 caregivers) and telenursing (33 caregivers) groups. In the attending group, teaching was carried out through question-answer and group discussion over four teaching sessions in one month. After completing the intervention, the investigator met the caregivers twice over two weeks to follow-up and answer their questions. In the telenursing group, the same teaching content was provided in a 4-session teaching via Soroush on social media in one month. Participants were contacted by phone twice over two weeks to follow and answer their questions. Both groups completed the Zarit caring burden questionnaire before and four weeks after the follow-up. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using the SPSS 20. RESULTS: Results showed that the mean of caring burden significantly decreased in caregivers in the telenursing and attending groups after the intervention compared to before the intervention (P < .001). After the intervention, the mean of caring burden in the telenursing group (24.27 ± 6.09) was less than the attending group (28 ± 8.36). There was a significant difference in the mean of caring burden between the attending and telenursing groups after the intervention (P = .04). CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, both attending and telenursing interventions showed significant effectiveness in decreasing the caring burden of hemodialysis patients' caregivers. A comparison of these two interventions showed that the telenursing intervention has more effectiveness than the attending intervention. Health policymakers can make the necessary plans to benefit from telenursing and prioritize the use of it.