NCT04939714

Caregiving During Crisis

Mastering the Challenges of Dementia Family Caregiving in a Time of COVID-19: An Online Course

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 100 (actual)
• Sponsor: Emory University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study will test a prototype pandemic caregiver training and education course designed for caregivers of persons living with dementia (PLWD). Participants will be randomized to take the course immediately or to take the course after completion of an 8-week waiting period.

Detailed description

Family caregivers, the backbone of care for the upwards of 7 million community-dwelling individuals living with Alzheimer's disease in the U.S., provide at least 85% of the care these individuals receive, at some risk to their own well-being, and are instrumental in navigating healthcare systems. Without their care, it is almost certain that persons living with dementia (PLWD) would have much higher rates of acute and emergency care use than their age-matched peers, perilous venues for them in the best of times, potentially deadly during this pandemic. With coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions, the amount of care they provide and the expertise needed to provide the care will increase. Typically, caregivers are strangers in healthcare and pandemic landscapes, but they are now called on to enact home care and safety measures and navigate an intricate, complex, and opaque system without the benefit of a compass or a translator, and largely without understanding their role in or having the skills for navigating the system. A variety of interventions have demonstrated benefit in enhancing caregivers' caregiving capacities, with resulting positive outcomes for both caregivers and care recipients. Only a few of these useful interventions, Tele-Savvy among them, have employed distance delivery means, thus enabling rural caregivers and others precluded by circumstance from attending in-person programs to take part in the intervention programs. The study will assess a psychoeducational intervention for dementia caregivers. Participating caregivers will be randomized to immediately enroll in the study intervention or to be in a waitlist group that will begin the intervention 8 weeks later. Participants will complete interviews at baseline and after the 8-week study period.

Conditions

• Caregiver Stress Syndrome

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Psychoeducational Intervention	The intervention is an online course providing education and training to caregivers over an 8 week period. The self-paced course provides information on caregiving for a PLWD during a pandemic, navigating the health care system for a PLWD, and managing daily life (including self-care).

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-06-07
• Primary completion: 2022-08-15
• Completion: 2022-08-15
• First posted: 2021-06-25
• Last updated: 2024-04-04
• Results posted: 2024-04-04

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States