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Impact of a Self-hyPnOsis Practice on Chronic StresS Among Caregivers of Elderly People With Loss of Autonomy at Home

Impact of a Self-hyPnOsis Practice on Chronic StresS Among Caregivers of Elderly People With Loss of Autonomy at Home: a Randomized Controlled Pilot Study With a Waiting List

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04909970
Acronym
POSSAID
Enrollment
14
Registered
2021-06-02
Start date
2025-04-10
Completion date
2025-11-27
Last updated
2026-03-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Stress

Keywords

Family caregivers, Aged persons, homebound persons, Chronic stress, Self-hypnosis

Brief summary

In France, stress particularly affects family caregivers because of the intensive help they provide on a permanent basis to people losing their autonomy at home. This care work is often considered as a "burden" and has all the characteristics of a chronic daily stress factor. The prevalence of stress among caregivers is high and the level of stress varies according to the type of care provided to seniors at home. This chronic stress has harmful effects on the health of family caregivers (depression, fatigue, insomnia, onset of chronic diseases, early mortality). It can be detrimental to their well-being and quality of life. However, ageing well at home for older people is based on this essential pillar: the caregivers. They must remain in good physical and psychological health. Reducing their daily stress is becoming a public health challenge and a national priority. Currently, the management of caregiver stress is based on several measures and devices. Non-conventional care practices such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, meditation, relaxation and yoga are offered to family caregivers. Initial results of studies on the effect of these complementary medicines show an improvement in psychological stress. However, research in this field is relatively recent. The conclusions must therefore be approached with caution. Moreover, no medium or long-term evaluation has been found in the scientific literature. Self-hypnosis is becoming a common practice in healthcare. It has demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing pain and anxiety in both adults and children. In addition, other recent scientific evidence supports the effectiveness of hypnosis in stress management. In France, no study on caregiver stress and its management by self-hypnosis has been identified in the literature. The hypothesis is that the stress level of caregivers of elderly people at home could be reduced through daily self-hypnosis practice at home.

Interventions

Self-hypnosis training during 8 weeks and one daily self-hypnosis session during 8 weeks

OTHERControl (Waiting list)

Usual practice during the first 16 weeks. At the end of study, the participant will practice Self-hypnosis training during 8 weeks and one daily self-hypnosis session during 8 weeks

Sponsors

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de la Réunion
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

waiting list

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Stress \> or = 3 evaluated by the analogic visual scale of CHAMOUX * Caregiver at home for a person uper than 60 years old with a loss of autonomy and followed in geriatrics or in polyvalent medicine * Daily help in at least one of the 3 spheres of the elderly activity * Person providing care services for more than 2 years with the elderly * Person who can read and write * Person affiliated to a social security scheme * Person who gives his oral express consent * Person who lives in Reunion Island

Exclusion criteria

* Person with serious chronic disorder (cancer for example) * Person with a contraindication to hypnosis (cognitive and psychiatric disorders or alcohol dependence) * Person under specific treatment preventing them from performing the intervention consistently * Person who has already practiced hypnosis

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Assessment of the feasibility of a practice of self-hypnosis on reducing the stress of carers caring for the elderly at home compared to a control group with waiting list.week 16 after enrollmentMembership of program participants : number of session of self-hypnosis realized compared to proposed session. It will be considered sufficient if 80% of the participants carry out 2 individual sessions and 1 collective hypnosis session during the training and practice 80% of the self-hypnosis sessions at home.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Comparison of the variation in caregiver burden between inclusion and the end of self-hypnosis practice between the 2 groups of participantweek 16 after enrollmentThe burden will be evaluated by the Zarit scale min score = 0 and max score =88 score\>60 = serious burden
Comparison of the variation in caregiver sleep quality between inclusion and the end of selfhypnosis practice between the 2 groups of participantweek 16 after enrollmentThe quality of sleep will be evaluated by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) min score = 0 and max score = 32 score = 32 : extreme fatigue
Comparison of the variation in caregiver fatigue level between inclusion and the end of self-hypnosis practice between the 2 groups of participantweek 16 after enrollmentThe level of fatigue will be evaluated by the Pichot scale
Comparison of the variation in caregiver quality of life between inclusion and the end of self-hypnosis practice between the 2 groups of participantweek 16 after enrollmentQuality of life will be evaluated by the SF-12 scale Score calculated with a software
Comparison between the 2 groups the care consumption between inclusion and the end of self-hypnosis practiceweek 16 after enrollmentThe care consumption will collected on a patient diary.
Observance of self-hypnosis sessions at homeweek 8 after enrollmentDuration and localization of the session will be collected on a patient diary.
Comparison of the variation of perceived stress between inclusion and the end of self-hypnosis practice between the 2 groups of participantweek 16 after enrollmentStress will be evaluated by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) min score = 10 and max score = 50 score \< 27 : stress management by the person

Countries

Reunion

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORDanielle Reynaud

CHU de La Réunion

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 14, 2026