A pilot study of a yoga and meditation intervention for dementia caregiver stress

Twelve older female dementia patient family caregivers (eight Latinas and four Caucasians) participated in a six-session manualized yoga-meditation program (called Inner Resources) designed to help caregivers cope with stress. Pre/post comparisons revealed statistically significant reductions in depression and anxiety and improvements in perceived self-efficacy. Average minutes of weekly yoga-meditation practice were significantly associated with improvements in depression. The majority of caregivers found the intervention useful and reported subjective improvements in physical and emotional functioning. These findings suggest that Inner Resources may be a feasible and effective intervention for family caregivers and may improve affect, coping, physical well-being, and stress management. Keywords: caregivers; caregiver burden; dementia caregiving; stress; meditation; yoga; depression; self-efficacy; older adults; Latinas