Powerful Tools for Caregivers (Title III-D Program)

Powerful Tools for Caregivers (PTC) was developed over 3 years of pilot testing, refinement, and evaluative research to assess the program’s effectiveness. Initiated through grant funding, the program has been offered for over 12 years. Currently, over 1,700 Class Leaders have been trained in 32 states. Since the program’s inception, Powerful Tools for Caregivers materials have reached over 70,000 caregivers.

PTC is based on the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program developed by Dr. Kate Loring and her colleagues at Stanford Universtiy. Powerful Tools for Caregivers is a national program sustained by extensive collaborations with community-based organizations.

In the six weekly classes, caregivers develop a wealth of self-care tools to: reduce personal stress; change negative self-talk; communicate their needs to family members and healthcare or service providers; communicate in challenging situations; recognize the messages in their emotions; deal with difficult feelings; and make tough caregiving decisions.

  • Program Goals:
  • -A self-care education program for family caregivers to improve: self-care behaviors, management of emotions, self-efficacy, and use of community resources

 

  • Target Audience:
  • -Family caregivers of adults with chronic conditions

 

  • Program Description:
  • -Community-based group program
  • -Six consecutive weeks
  • -90 minutes or 2-1/2 hours per week
  • -10-15 participants
  • -Scripted curriculum providing tools that can be individualized to meet the challenges of caregiving in a supportive and interactive environment

 

  • Program Delivery:
  • -Caregiver classes co-led by certified, trained class leaders

 

Contact information

Reference Material

  • Marie Y. Savundranayagam, Rhonda J.V. Montgomery, Karl Kosloski, Todd D. Little (2010). Impact of a psychoeducational program on three types of caregiver burden among spouses. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

 

  • Chang Won Won, Sally Sizer Fitts, Susy Favaro, Pat Olsen, Elizabeth A. Phelan (2008). Community-based “powerful tools” intervention enhances health of caregivers. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics.

 

  • Linda Boise, Leslie Congleton, Kathy Shannon (2005). Empowering Family Caregivers: The Powerful Tools for Caregiving Program. Educational Gerontology.

 

  •  Daniel Kuhn, Bradley R. Fulton, Perry Edelman (2003). Powerful Tools for Caregivers: Improving Self-Care and Self-Efficacy of Family Caregivers. Alzheimer’s Care Quarterly.