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Don’t Forget to Take Some Time to Yourself: The Effect of Mobile Phone Reminders on Self-care Subdomains of Informal Caregivers

Publication . Peres, Beatriz; Noronha, Hildegardo; Campos, Pedro

The lives of informal caregivers can get so busy and overwhelmed that they stop caring for themselves. A simple daily mobile phone reminder may be enough to restore some of their self-care. In this study, we explore the effects of reminders in the lives of informal caregivers, specifically in the Mindful Self-Care Scale subdomains. We found positive effects in the Supportive Relationships and the Mindful Relaxation subdomains with medium effects. Despite not being statistically significant, the Mindful Awareness and the Self Compassion and Purpose subdomains have low enough p-values for us to argue that they may create positive effects if coupled with extra call-to-action features. This should be explored in future studies. The Supportive Structure subdomain seems to have no relation or be affected in any relevant way by the reminders.

2022Conference object

Open access

Virtual environments for improving the emotional states of informal caregivers: the role of digital nature and virtual companions

Publication . Peres, Beatriz Rodrigues Jardim Rino; Lopes, Daniel Simões; Jorge, Joaquim Armando Pires

By 2050, the global senior population is expected to double to 2.1 billion, including 426 million aged over 80, significantly increasing the number of informal caregivers. Caring for family members with Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias presents emotional and physical challenges, worsened by the need to balance caregiving with full-time jobs and limited time for self-care. Interaction with nature is a type of self-care activity that improves emotional states, but caregivers often struggle to access these environments due to time. With this, this thesis explores interventions to enhance the emotional state of informal caregivers, focusing on digital and virtual natural environments and types of companionship. This research begins by examining how reminders improve self-care practices and then how digital and virtual natural environments affect caregivers’ emo tional states. We also explore the benefits of virtual companionship on their emotional state. Findings show that digital and virtual natural environments significantly boost caregivers’ emotional state, especially when they can choose their settings. Virtual companionship, such as interacting with a virtual dog, reduces tension, boosts energy, fosters feelings of safety, and alleviates loneliness. These results highlight the poten tial of virtual companionship and virtual natural environments to improve the emotional state of informal caregivers of family members with Alzheimer’s and Related Demen tias.

2024-11-27Doctoral thesis

Embargoed access