Psychoeducational Interventions for Family Caregivers of Seniors across Their Life Trajectory: An Evidence-Based Research Program to Inform Clinical Practice

Table 2

Synthesis of learning steps of stress management process.

Steps	Content
1	Caregiver gains awareness of caregiving situation; identification and analysis of gratifying and irritating aspects of situation and their effects on own health and QoL.
2	Choice of a difficulty (stressor) for which caregiver wishes to effect a change; formulation of a concrete objective to achieve using Goal Attainment Scale [45]
3	Analysis of context surrounding caregiving situation: personal, family, and environmental factors that contribute to thoughts and stress, habitual strategies used to manage stress situations
4	Classification of selected stressor according to whether it is amenable to change or not; gained awareness of importance of fitting coping strategy (e.g., problem solving, cognitive reframing, and social support seeking) to stressor; testing of strategy on daily basis
5	Evaluation of achievement of goal set at start and of perceived stress following stress management process; if goal not reached, repeat process
6	Follow-up session: review of overall stress management process; caregiver questions answered; discussion of potential transferability of process to other difficult situations of daily life