Table 1 Interaction program between family caregivers and community nurses for disabled elderly people

Skill training

The training for community nurses and family caregivers in communication skills and home care for the disabled elderly people is an important guarantee to promote effective interaction.

Training participants: community nurses and family caregivers

Training content:

① Communication skills training. The content includes community nurses and family caregivers, sharing information about illness care, creating an atmosphere of trust, and using verbal and non-verbal interaction skills such as positive listening, empathy and physical contact.

② Home care training for the disabled elderly person. Including disabled elderly limb joint movement, emergency management, prevention and treatment of infection problems, pipeline care, drug use and side effects, feeding or assistance in eating, turning over and skin care, body cleaning, and oral cleaning.

Establish a partnership

Community nurses build trust and good partnerships with family caregivers in order to promote effective interaction.

① The community nurse first arrived at the home of the disabled elderly person and communicated with the caregiver.

② Introduce the theme of this intervention, tell about the main content of the intervention program, and ask the caregivers’ willingness to participate and their views and expectations of the interactive program.

③ Establish an interactive wechat group to facilitate community nurses and caregivers to contact with each other and promote effective interaction.

Evaluation and planning

Assess care issues for disabled elderly people and their family caregivers. Work with family caregivers to develop care plans and clarify interactive content.

① Community nurses firstly assess the health problems of the disabled elderly and the problems and difficulties in the care of the caregivers.

② Caregivers take the initiative to discuss with community nurses how to address the current health issues of disabled elderly people, and jointly develop long-term and short-term care goals and plans for disabled elderly people.

Division of labor and cooperation (Behavioral interaction)

Community nurses and caregivers negotiate the division of labor and cooperation on the care issues and care plan of the disabled elderly, define their respective roles, functions and care priorities, and implement the care plan.

Community nurses and caregivers practice the division of labor and cooperation in the care plan of the disabled elderly, which is a practical behavioral interaction. The roles of community nurses mainly include: basic nursing, health education and consultation, cooperation and coordination, supervision and observation, and the role functions of caregivers mainly include: care for daily life and activities, some technical care (condition observation, assistance with medication taking, turning and back), mental and emotional support.

Information interaction

Community nurses and family caregivers exchanged information through information sharing communication.

① The caregivers shared the daily and health conditions of the disabled elderly, as well as the problems of the caregivers with the community nurses in the WeChat group.

② Community nurses give timely feedback and response, and ensure that they answer caregivers’ care questions every day.

③ Community nurses push popular science articles or videos on health and care knowledge of disabled elderly once or twice a week, and can discuss and learn with caregivers to ensure that the learning content is easy to understand, simple and intuitive.

④ The community nurses informed the caregivers in time of the physical examination and lectures in the community health service center.

Emotional interaction

Through talking and listening, community nurses and caregivers can further close the distance between each other, resonate, and promote the emotional interaction between community nurses and caregivers.

① pour out. Community nurses can timely pay attention to caregivers in the process of long-term care of negative emotions, guide the caregivers to express and vent years backlog of suffering, encourage caregivers to share 1–2 is the most difficult levels, release depressed emotions, allowing caregivers to express by talk, complain, cry, release pressure;

② listen for. Community nurses can give appropriate comfort and encouragement, and can use various verbal and non-verbal methods such as listening, empathy, and physical contact to provide psychological and emotional support for the caregivers, and tell the caregivers that "I am there". Actively encourage caregivers to develop personal hobbies, enrich their daily life, and maintain an optimistic attitude.

Supervision and feedback

During the implementation of the care plan, supervision and feedback can ensure the smooth progress of the care plan.

Through telephone or family follow-up, community nurses can receive timely feedback from caregivers on family care, timely find out the problems and deficiencies in the process of caregivers’ care, give corrections, and provide caregivers with guidance on care skills.

Evaluation and re-evaluation

The effect was evaluated according to the goal of care, re-evaluated, and the interactive program was continued.

Family caregivers and community nurses together evaluate the implementation of the care plan through telephone or family visits, reevaluate the solution degree and needs of the health problems of the disabled elderly and their caregivers, summarize the problems in the implementation of the plan, discuss the solutions or make the modification and adjustment of the plan.