A nurse-led educational intervention to improve caregiver preparedness during stroke discharge: a pilot quasi-experimental study with historical comparison

Background: Stroke caregivers often feel ill-prepared for the transition home, which could compromise quality of care and increase burden. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured ed- ucational intervention for caregivers of patients with stroke in improving their preparedness during the hospital-to-home transition. Methods: A pilot quasi-experimental study with a historical control group was conducted, using full propensity score matching to minimize selection bias. The intervention group included 97 informal care- givers recruited between 2024 and 2025 from two Italian hospitals, while the historical control group comprised 216 caregivers enrolled between 2018 and 2019. The intervention consisted of a personal- ized nurse-led educational program initiated before discharge and continued after discharge. The control group received standard discharge information only. Caregiver preparedness was assessed using the Care- giver Preparedness Scale at baseline and three months post-discharge. Results: After matching, the analytical sample included 97 intervention caregivers and 216 controls. Al- though baseline preparedness was lower in the intervention group, at three months they reported signif- icantly higher preparedness than controls (B = 9.54, 95% CI: 8.40–10.44; p < 0.001). Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of results. Conclusions: A structured, individualized educational intervention significantly enhanced caregiver pre- paredness during the hospital-to-home transition after stroke.