Long-Term Effects of a COMPASS Program on the Caregiving Journey: 1-Year Follow-Up in a Randomized Controlled Trial

The number of older adults requiring long-term care (LTC) is increasing rapidly worldwide. The primary family caregivers of LTC recipients experience ongoing burdens and various challenges in their caregiving that adversely affect their own health and also the quality of caring that they provide to their loved ones. As a country becoming a super-aged society, South Korea has been making considerable efforts to improve the long-term effects on caregivers by providing them with support intervention programs.

This study was designed to assess the long-term effects of a COMPASS program at a national level. The short-term and long-term benefits were compared for the full COMPASS program (comprising 6 individual visits, 3 group-support sessions, and 2 telephone calls) provided to 203 caregivers, as were the long-term benefits between the full COMPASS program and its short form (comprising 3 individual visits and 1 group-support session) provided to 213 caregivers. The effects of the program on the family caregivers were evaluated by measuring their levels of social support received, self-efficacy, depression, burden, and risk to health.

The long-term effects of the COMPASS program were greater than those of its short-term effects in reducing depression and risk to health (p = 0.013 and p = 0.002, respectively), whereas there were no significant differences between the short-term and long-term effects of the full COMPASS program on social support, self-efficacy, or burden. Comparing the long-term effects between the two forms of the COMPASS program revealed that the depression of caregivers was improved more by the full program than by the short form (p = 0.022), while there were no significant differences for social support, self-efficacy, burden, or risk to health.

This study supports providing COMPASS programs to obtain long-term benefits for family caregivers of LTC recipients. Potential approaches that could optimize the long-term benefits of the COMPASS program include supporting caregivers to participate in arts-related hobbies and maintaining follow-up telephone calls after program completion.