The stepwise development of a comprehensive family caregiver support programme

Family caregivers are the backbone of the long-term care for stroke survivors at home. To fulfil their new role, caregivers need early, personalized and comprehensive support. In Germany, a new family caregiver support programme was developed step-wise. Individual caregivers and professionals from the stroke care system were involved in each project step as primary stakeholders. We developed project management tools and applied action research to optimize the comprehensive programme.Evaluation showed that individual caregivers benefited from personalized information and psychosocial support, improved their health literacy and psychosocial health. The stroke care system profited from improved communication and interconnected network activities