NCT03667924

Utilizing Senior Companions to Enhance Dementia Care

Utilizing Senior Companions to Enhance Dementia Care Services and Supports

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 44 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Minnesota · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 21 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The inability of healthcare systems to effectively manage Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) often results in families remaining unaware of important community-based, long-term services and supports (LTSS) that could help to mitigate the negative effects of cognitive impairment. This project will feature a collaboration between Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota to evaluate a novel adaption of the volunteer Senior Companion Program (SCP) to: a) assist families better manage ADRD at home; b) identify and facilitate the use of LTSS; and c) improve engagement with primary care providers throughout the state of Minnesota. If successful, the PorchLight Project will offer a potentially efficient, wide-ranging service model for states and communities to implement for persons with ADRD and their caregiving families.

Detailed description

This project will evaluate a novel adaption of the Senior Companion Program (SCP) administered by Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota to assist families better manage their relatives' Alzheimer's disease or related dementias (ADRDs); identify and facilitate use of community-based long-term services and supports (LTSS); and improve engagement with healthcare providers. This intervention, called the PorchLight Project has the following aims: Specific Aim 1. Implement PorchLight Project for 25 persons with ADRD or memory concerns (collectively, persons with memory loss \[PWML\]) and/or their caregivers in one urban and rural region of Minnesota. A convergent parallel mixed methods design \[(QUAN+QUAL)--\>QUAL\] will be utilized to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and utility of PorchLight Project for 25 families and their SC-Ds (n = 20) over a 3-month period (i.e., Stage I of the NIH Stage Model). Specific Aim 2. Refine PorchLight Project delivery and implementation for efficacy evaluation. Activities to support this aim will include assessment of R61 milestones and incorporation of R61 findings to refine the PorchLight Project prior to efficacy evaluation. Through stakeholder engagement with the Dementia Healthcare Research Advisory Group (DHR) as well as analysis of the various quantitative and qualitative data elements collected during this Phase, we will finalize and refine effective training approaches for PorchLight Project Senior Companions (SCs), identify and confirm stakeholder-centric measures, and enhance the overall implementation of the PorchLight Project to inform a subsequent R33 Phase.

Conditions

• Alzheimer Disease
• Dementia

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	PorchLight Project	Senior Companions (or other LSS-MN volunteers providing senior companionship services) who deliver the PorchLight Project will complete online CARES® Dementia Care Specialist training modules, additional trainings delivered by the research team (1. overview of the PorchLight Project, 2. review of the National Consensus Guidelines on Palliative Care, 3. review of the list of guided questions, and 4. review of journaling approach and LTSS resources), and participate in unstructured monthly check-ins (discussions and case review as applicable) with the research team.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-04-29
• Primary completion: 2020-08-31
• Completion: 2020-08-31
• First posted: 2018-09-12
• Last updated: 2026-04-08
• Results posted: 2022-11-25

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States