Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions on the burden and quality of life of informal caregivers of hemodialysis patients: a systematic review
Abstract
Purpose To systematically review the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions developed for informal caregivers of hemodialysis patients. Methods Relevant studies were identified through five electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, and the CENTRAL. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental studies describing interventions for informal caregivers of adult in-center hemodialysis patients (≥18 years old) were included and independently appraised by two reviewers using the Joanna Briggs Institute Statistics Assessment and Review Instruments critical appraisal checklists. Results Eleven articles evaluating eight intervention programs were included in this review, covering a total of 729 informal caregivers. Most studies implemented educational or psycho-educational interventions ( n = 6). Psycho-educational interventions designed to promote caregivers' ability to care and to cope with the caregiving role had positive effects on burden and/or quality of life. Psychological interventions also had large effects on reducing the burden over time. Conclusions There are still few interventions available to caregivers of hemodialysis patients. Psychosocial interventions showed great potential in improving the caregiver burden and quality of life. Further research with rigorous designs is needed to achieve stronger evidence on the extent of the current findings. Trial registration number CRD42021247916.Implications for rehabilitationPatients with…
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Research in other domains, such as bipolar disorder, chronic kidney disease, palliative care, and older adults with mild cognitive impairment, has also yielded similar results.
“Research conducted in other domains, such as bipolar disorder, chronic kidney disease, patients receiving palliative care, and older adults with mild cognitive impairment, has also yielded similar results (Bártolo et al., 2022; Baruch et al., 2018; Çetin and Nehir, 2020; Young et al., 2019).”
From Support based on psychoeducation intervention to address quality of life and care burden among caregivers of patients with cancer: a randomized controlled trial (2025) · cites this paper as Bártolo et al., 2022
Cites
The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., et al. (2021) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.n71 · Cited by 108,283 · see citing works
A systematic review of psychosocial interventions to improve cancer caregiver quality of life
Waldron, E. A., Janke, E. A., Bechtel, C. F., Ramirez, M., & Cohen, A. (2013) · Psycho-Oncology · doi:10.1002/pon.3118 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
Interventions for psychological health of stroke caregivers: a systematic review
Panzeri, A., Rossi Ferrario, S., & Vidotto, G. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02045 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Shaohua, L., & Shorey, S. (2021) · International Journal of Nursing Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2021.103871 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
A Systematic Review of Psychosocial Interventions to Cancer Caregivers
Fu, F., Zhao, H., Tong, F., & Chi, I. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00834 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Mirhosseini, S., Imani Parsa, F., Moghadam-Roshtkhar, H., Basirinezhad, M. H., Ameri, M., & Ebrahimi, H. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1430371 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bártolo, A., Sousa, H., Ribeiro, O., & Figueiredo, D.
- Affiliations
- Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (PT)
- University of Aveiro (PT)
- Department of Education and Psychology, Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS.UA), University of Aveiro (Campus Universitário de Santiago)
- Corresponding author
- Figueiredo, Daniela
- Venue
- Disability and Rehabilitation
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2021-12-16
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 26
- Pages
- 8176-8187
- ISSN
- 0963-8288 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-5165
- OpenAlex
- W4200607086
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2
- FWCI
- 0.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Disability and Rehabilitation (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- FEDER
- COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização
- National Funds
- FCT/MCTES
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Nephrology › Dialysis and Renal Disease Management
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family Caregiving in Mental Illness
- Keywords
- psychosocial interventions, informal caregivers, hemodialysis, caregiver burden, quality of life, end-stage renal disease, psychoeducational intervention, psychological intervention, family caregivers, renal care
- MeSH terms
- Psychosocial Intervention, Adolescent, Adult, Family, Renal Dialysis, Humans, Quality of Life, Caregivers
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
