NCT03622814

Partners at Meals - Respite Care and Home (PAM)

Mealtime Partnerships for People With Dementia in Respite Centers and at Home

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 106 (actual)
• Sponsor: Medical University of South Carolina · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this study was to test the efficacy of a mealtime intervention in respite care centers for people with dementia and their caregivers. Mealtimes become more challenging as dementia progresses causing nutritional and behavioral issues in the affected individuals. Using a train-the-trainer program built on the Partners at Meals model, volunteers in respite centers partner worked with caregivers and developed a mealtime plan that builds on the strengths of the person with dementia (PWD), and developed a supportive environment for change. A tele-health component was involved in the communication between the respite center volunteers/staff and families. Recruitment was limited to people attending the particular respite centers. Two large RCCs with a total of 5 sites of care in suburban and rural areas of SC were the sites of this project.

Detailed description

The goal of this study was to test the efficacy of a mealtime intervention (Partners at Meals) in respite care centers (RCCs) that provided a social model of care for people with dementia living in the community and support for their caregivers. Largely staffed by long-time volunteers, these centers support caregivers' ability to maintain their loved one in the home. Traditionally, support for social activities and mealtime offered by the RCCs cannot be extended to home. In this project, we used a telehealth interface to provide consultation to family caregivers in the context of home where problems arise. The primary unit of analysis was PWD and their caregiver (CG) outcomes which included: a) PWD weight; b) dysfunctional behaviors at meals; c) quality of life (QOL) of both persons with dementia and their caregivers; and, d) CG self efficacy of managing meals at home.

Conditions

• Dementia, Alzheimer Type
• Weight Loss

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Partners at Meals	The focus of the intervention was to facilitate meals using knowledge of the person with dementia's past history and lifelong preferences as well as their stage of disease, altering the behavior of the caregiver at meals to ameliorate dysfunctional behaviors, and altering the environment to make it more focused on the process of meals. Families recorded three meals including behavior at home each month.
BEHAVIORAL	Enhanced Usual Condition	Enhanced Usual Condition (EUC) Staff and volunteers at the EUC sites received training in communication between family and friends of the person with dementia. Following the general model of the Savvy Caregiver (Hepburn), communication training will occur every six months in these two sites. Families will be trained by project staff to record three meals including behavior at home each month.

Timeline

• Start date: 2017-08-15
• Primary completion: 2023-06-30
• Completion: 2023-06-30
• First posted: 2018-08-09
• Last updated: 2025-04-10
• Results posted: 2025-04-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States