Family caregivers of patients undergoing haemodialysis experience significant psychological, social and physical challenges that contribute to caregiver burden and reduced resilience. Strengths-based empowerment programmes, combined with the teach-back method, may help reduce burden and enhance resilience. This protocol describes a randomised controlled trial designed to evaluate the effect of such an intervention among family caregivers of haemodialysis patients.

This parallel-group randomised controlled trial will enrol 78 family caregivers of haemodialysis patients in Bojnurd, Iran, using a convenience sampling method. Participants will be randomised into intervention and control groups through block randomisation with a block size of four. The 10-week intervention will include 60 Short Message Service messages, five fortnightly teach-back phone calls and four structured inperson reinforcement sessions. The control group will receive the standard educational support provided by the dialysis unit. Outcomes will be measured at baseline, immediately post intervention and at the end of 8 weeks follow-up using the Caregiver Burden Questionnaire for Hemodialysis Caregivers and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. A blinded statistician will perform repeated measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for the analysis.

The participants will be assured that their data will remain confidential. Written informed consent will be obtained from the participants. The research proposal has been prospectively registered in the Iranian Clinical Trial Registration Centre (IRCT20250109064329N1; Date of full registration: 18 February 2025) and approved by the Ethics Committee of North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences (code: IR.NKUMS.REC.1403.128). All methods will be carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Findings will be disseminated to participants via a lay summary, to healthcare providers, policymakers and stakeholders through reports and presentations and submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. Deidentified participant data will be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request, in accordance with institutional policies and ethical approval.

IRCT20250109064329N1.