Introduction:

Chronic disease is a recurring issue that has been increasing over years in parallel with the appearance of the family caregiver. The present research attempted to address the chronicity phenom enon in order to minimize complications. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of an educational proposal in two health institutions located in Pasto based on the required care com petence of the caregiver.

Materials and methods:

An experimental, randomized study was conducted to test the effect of the hospital discharge plan intervention on a group of 126 patients with arterial hyper tension (AHT) and diabetes mellitus type 2 (experimental group) when compared to another group of patients with same pathologies, who received conventional intervention from the involved institutions (control group) in order to compare the results between the two groups. The chi square and Fisher’s exact tests were used in order to ensure statistically significant results.

Results:

Among family caregiv ers, 71% were female; 38% were of age 30-44 years; and care competence improved in nine out of ten evaluated caregivers. The incidence rate was higher in people who underwent the pedagogical strategy.

Conclusion:

The pedagogical intervention revealed the importance of the educational component for generating favorable changes in the population under study, which in turn contributed to the improve ment in the care competence of caregivers.

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