Development and Validation of a Psychological Empowerment Package for Family Caregivers of Older Adults: From Qualitative Findings to Intervention Design

Nahid Ghanbarzadeh Alamdari; Mahdi Zare Bahram Abadi; Khadijeh Abolmaali Al‑Hosseini

Authors

Nahid Ghanbarzadeh Alamdari Department of Family and Counseling, NT.C, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1048-8727
Mahdi Zare Bahram Abadi Department of Counseling, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran Corresponding Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1608-0132
Khadijeh Abolmaali Al‑Hosseini Department of Educational Psychology, NT.C, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9714-1816

Keywords:

: family caregiver empowerment, challenges of family caregivers of older adults, family caregiver needs, caregiver empowerment packages

Abstract

Given that the healthcare system relies substantially on family caregivers as the backbone of care provision, preserving caregivers’ health is of considerable importance. Considering the Iranian and Islamic cultural context, family-centered strategies are required to support family caregivers of older adults. Accordingly, the primary objective of developing the psychological empowerment package was to create an intervention program capable of strengthening family caregivers of older adults across the psychological dimensions required for caregiving and thereby promoting continuity of care for older adults. The intervention package in the present study was developed based on the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework. Accordingly, caregivers’ needs were identified through a systematic review of the literature and the collection of qualitative data from family caregivers of older adults; subsequently, the intervention protocol was developed and validated by an eight-member expert panel. The overall content validity of the package, assessed using the S-CVI/Ave, was 0.945, indicating a high level of content validity. The package consisted of five main modules and 11 submodules delivered over 15 weekly 90-minute sessions in a hybrid format, including face-to-face sessions for intervention delivery and virtual follow-up for assignments. The package was designed not merely as a simple educational program but as an intervention with the potential to evolve into an indigenous model for caregiver empowerment. Given its simultaneous emphasis on multiple dimensions, including the body, cognition, emotion, meaning, relationships, and behavior, the package can be conceptualized as a multilayered empowerment model.

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