Mindfulness Meditation Can Reduce Stress in Caregivers

As the older adult population in the United States continues to grow, so too does the need for caregivers. It’s estimated that up to 92% of older adults have at least one chronic condition, while 77% have two.

In 2015 the AARP Public Policy Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving published a report on caregiving in the U.S. and found that 34.2 million Americans had provided unpaid care to an older adult in the previous year.

Caregiver stress occurs when the responsibility of caregiving, particularly for family members, becomes overwhelming. Caregiver burden occurs when caring for the family member negatively affects the caregiver’s life, socially, emotionally, financially, or physically. It is estimated that up to 32% of caregivers experience caregiver burden.

Interventions to reduce caregiver burden are of great interest as the number of informal family caregivers continues to grow. The purpose of the study was to test the feasibility of an online mindfulness meditation intervention for community-dwelling older adult caregivers and to evaluate its impact on quality of life, caregiver burden, and psychological well-being. 

Forty caregivers were recruited from two community center support groups to participate in an eight-week online mindfulness intervention. The results of this study indicated that the mindfulness meditation intervention reduced caregiver burden, stress, anxiety, and loneliness, and improved mental well-being. As many caregivers are themselves older adults, the opportunity for them to participate in an online program in their own homes is a unique resource.