Feasibility and Preliminary Impacts of a Stress Reduction Intervention for Caregivers of Adolescents and Young Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

BACKGROUND

Family caregivers of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities often experience chronic stress and poor mental and physical health. This study examined the feasibility of a 12-week single-arm intervention to reduce caregiver stress.

METHODS

The caregiver intervention included a yoga class and informational support group. Feasibility measures included recruitment, attendance, retention, fidelity and acceptability (interviews). Exploratory impacts on perceived and physiological stress (salivary cortisol), social support, caregiver strain, family empowerment, sleep, physical activity and body mass index were assessed by percent change across the intervention.

RESULTS

Twenty caregivers enrolled (95% retained) and participants attended 67% of sessions. Intervention fidelity was 95%. Semi-structured interviews revealed high acceptability of the intervention. Perceived stress decreased by 5.8% and cortisol decreased by 24.1%. Changes in all but one exploratory outcome were in desirable directions.

CONCLUSIONS

The intervention was feasible and acceptable among participants with positive initial effects on the majority of exploratory outcomes.