NCT04490070

Caregiver Training: Evidence of Its Effectiveness for Cognitive and Functional Improvement in Older Adults

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 160 (actual)
• Sponsor: Universidad de Granada · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Due to demographic changes that have resulted in an aging population, the role of caregiver of an older adult has become very important in recent years. While numerous programs have been designed to lighten the caregiver's physical and emotional burden, fewer programs train caregivers to improve skills and level of independence in the person they care for. The objectives of this research study were to assess the benefits of a caregiver training program on the cognitive and functional status of older adults, as well as to compare the effects of this program according to type of caregiver (professional caregiver vs. family caregiver). Methods: The sample was composed of 160 older adults: a) 100 received care from caregivers who had taken the training program (treatment group), of which 60 were professional caregivers and 40 were family caregivers; and b) 60 received care from caregivers who had not taken the program (control group). In order to evaluate program effects on cognitive and functional status, we used both direct measures (MMSE, CAPE and EuroQol) and caregiver reports (Barthel and RMPBC).

Conditions

• Functional Ability
• Cognitive Decline
• Older Adults
• Healthy Aging

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Cognitive Stimulation	The caregiver training program consisted of applying the cognitive stimulation model of the CUIDA-2 program. This application included theoretical training made up of three modules: 1) person-centered care, 2) communication strategies, and 3) mediated cognitive stimulation strategies. The training was given in two group sessions of two hours each, plus 50 hours of individual practice, either on the job (in the case of professional caregivers) or in the home (in the case of family caregivers), in both cases supervised by psychologists who were experts in the program. In these individual practice hours, the caregivers were required to keep a weekly log. Here they had to plan in advance the activities that they were going to carry out with the older adult, and once they had taken place, they had to record how they were done and how the older adult had responded.

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-12-10
• Primary completion: 2020-03-10
• Completion: 2020-03-10
• First posted: 2020-07-28
• Last updated: 2020-07-28

Locations

10 sites across 1 country: Spain