Introduction As the population ages, informal carers play an increasingly essential role in supporting patients with chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs), often at the expense of their own health. While the psychological effects are well documented, less is currently known about the physical toll of caregiving. Some trials have shown promising outcomes from pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) interventions targeting both patients and informal carers, but study designs have been limited. This trial aims to better understand informal carers’ experience by assessing their physical, psychological and social well-being at home, before and after the individual they care for participates in either a home-based or centre-based PR programme. Methods and analyses This is a multicentre, convergent parallel mixed-methods study using a before-and-after intervention design. 54 informal carers of patients with CRDs will be recruited from two PR services—27 from a home- and 27 from a centre-based programme. Assessments of the physical, psychological and social well-being of the informal carers will be conducted at home. Semistructured interviews, conducted within 2-weeks post-PR, will explore informal carers’ expectations, experiences and support needs. The home-based PR programme will involve weekly 90-min sessions for 8 weeks, supervised at home by a care manager. Informal carers will have the opportunity to participate in PR sessions in accordance with their needs, availability and patient preferences. At the centre-based PR site, patients with CRDs will be enrolled in a 4-week inpatient PR programme or in a 5- to 10-week outpatient PR programme, consisting of 2 or 4 supervised sessions per week (for a total of 20 supervised sessions). Informal carers’ attendance will be tracked at both sites. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was obtained from the University Sud Mediterranean 3 (24.04596.000457;2024/10/07). The trial results will be presented at scientific conferences, submitted to peer-reviewed journals and shared with decision-makers. Trial registration number NCT06832709 .
Robic et al. (Sun,) studied this question.