Generic and disease-specific caregiver contribution to self-care in a population with multiple chronic conditions: A comparative study

Aim: Describe and compare generic and disease-specific caregiver contribution (CC) to self-care behaviours in the dimensions of self-care maintenance, self-care monitoring and self-care management in multiple chronic conditions (MCCs). Design: Multicentre cross-sectional study. Methods: We enrolled caregivers of patients with MCC, from April 2017 to November 2022, if they were (a) 18 years of age or older and (b) identified by the patient as the principal unpaid informal caregiver. The Caregiver Contribution to Self-Care of Chronic Illness Inventory, Caregiver Contribution to Self-Care of Heart Failure Index, Caregiver Contribution to Self-Care of COPD Inventory and Caregiver Contribution to Self-care of Diabetes Inventory were used to measure generic and disease-specific contribution to patient self-care. Descriptive statistics, Student's t-tests and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used. Results: We found adequate generic CC for self-care monitoring but inadequate CC in self-care maintenance and management. All CC to disease-specific self-care maintenance, monitoring and management scales' scores were inadequate, except for caregivers of diabetic patients in which we observed an adequate score in the CC to self-care maintenance and self-care management scales in those practice insulin therapy. Conclusion: Caregivers experience difficulties in performing behaviours of contribution to their patients affected by chronic conditions. Caregivers of patients with MCCs contribute more to self-care in aspects related to provider prescriptions and less to lifestyle changes. Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care: Healthcare professionals have to know in which behaviours caregivers show gaps and reflect on the reasons for poor CC to self-care to develop interventions to enhance these behaviours. Impact: This study underlines the importance of choosing the most appropriate instrument for measuring CC to self-care, considering the caregiver's characteristics. Reporting Method: We adhered to STROBE guidelines. Patient or Public Contribution: Caregivers of patients affected by MCCs were enrolled.