A benefit-finding intervention for family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer disease: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Background Caregivers of relatives with Alzheimer’s disease are highly stressed and at risk for physical and psychiatric conditions. Interventions are usually focused on providing caregivers with knowledge of dementia, skills, and/or support, to help them cope with the stress. This model, though tru...

Celý popis

Uloženo v:
Podrobná bibliografie
Vydáno v:Current controlled trials in cardiovascular medicine Ročník 13; číslo 1; s. 98
Hlavní autoři: Cheng, Sheung-Tak, Lau, Rosanna WL, Mak, Emily PM, Ng, Natalie SS, Lam, Linda CW, Fung, Helene H, Lai, Julian CL, Kwok, Timothy, Lee, Diana TF
Médium: Journal Article
Jazyk:angličtina
Vydáno: London BioMed Central 02.07.2012
BioMed Central Ltd
Springer Nature B.V
BMC
Témata:
ISSN:1745-6215, 1745-6215
On-line přístup:Získat plný text
Tagy: Přidat tag
Žádné tagy, Buďte první, kdo vytvoří štítek k tomuto záznamu!
Popis
Shrnutí:Background Caregivers of relatives with Alzheimer’s disease are highly stressed and at risk for physical and psychiatric conditions. Interventions are usually focused on providing caregivers with knowledge of dementia, skills, and/or support, to help them cope with the stress. This model, though true to a certain extent, ignores how caregiver stress is construed in the first place. Besides burden, caregivers also report rewards, uplifts, and gains, such as a sense of purpose and personal growth. Finding benefits through positive reappraisal may offset the effect of caregiving on caregiver outcomes. Design Two randomized controlled trials are planned. They are essentially the same except that Trial 1 is a cluster trial (that is, randomization based on groups of participants) whereas in Trial 2, randomization is based on individuals. Participants are randomized into three groups - benefit finding, psychoeducation, and simplified psychoeducation. Participants in each group receive a total of approximately 12 hours of training either in group or individually at home. Booster sessions are provided at around 14 months after the initial treatment. The primary outcomes are caregiver stress (subjective burden, role overload, and cortisol), perceived benefits, subjective health, psychological well-being, and depression. The secondary outcomes are caregiver coping, and behavioral problems and functional impairment of the care-recipient. Outcome measures are obtained at baseline, post-treatment (2 months), and 6, 12, 18 and 30 months. Discussion The emphasis on benefits, rather than losses and difficulties, provides a new dimension to the way interventions for caregivers can be conceptualized and delivered. By focusing on the positive, caregivers may be empowered to sustain caregiving efforts in the long term despite the day-to-day challenges. The two parallel trials will provide an assessment of whether the effectiveness of the intervention depends on the mode of delivery. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( http://www.chictr.org/en/ ) identifier number ChiCTR-TRC-10000881.
Bibliografie:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
content type line 14
ObjectType-Feature-3
ObjectType-Evidence Based Healthcare-1
ObjectType-Article-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ObjectType-Undefined-3
ISSN:1745-6215
1745-6215
DOI:10.1186/1745-6215-13-98