Caregivers of the residents in nursing homes are exposed to a high degree of physical and mental stress. The first part of this article deals with the development and evaluation of an intervention programme aiming at the staff's qualification to deal with these stresses. The main purpose of the programme was the improvement of the caregiver's methodical, social and self-care competences. A controlled study design was applied to evaluate the training effects. Seventeen homes for the elderly and nursing homes were involved in the pilot study. All participants of the intervention group (eleven homes) assessed their competences, their job conditions and their mental health status at the beginning and at the end of the training. The participants of the control group (six homes) assessed these aspects at the same time, but had no training in between. Furthermore, the intervention group took part in a third survey about twelve weeks after the intervention had been finished. Among the training participants, particularly the self-care skills improved (p=0.01). In addition, occupational stress could be reduced (p=0.01) and the climate with the residents enhanced (p=0.06). Compared to the changes also observed in the control group, statistically significant effects only confined to the change of the climate with the residents (p=0.01). In sum, the evaluation confirms the programme's success to develop the caregiver's professional competences in order to reduce their job stress. Further follow-up-studies are needed to investigate the long-term influence of behavioural prevention programmes like this on employee's health.
