None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of the study was to determine whether it is possible to postpone long term institutional care of spouses with dementia and support spouse caregivers' psycological well-being and quality of life. Additionally, the effects of the intervention on total usage and expenses of social and health care services were analysed.
Interventions
Duration of study: 24 months
Intervention group:
Family care coordinator, geriatrician and individually tailored and need-based support activities (24 months). Families met the family care co-ordinator and the geriatrician at the beginning of the intervention and after that when needed (need-based and individually tailored consultations, in-home visits and follow-up calls)
Goal-orientated peer support group meetings for caregivers ( 5 meetings with 8-10 participants in two months' intervals duri
Duration of study: 24 months Intervention group: Family care coordinator, geriatrician and individually tailored and need-based support activities (24 months). Families met the family care co-ordinator and the geriatrician at the beginning of the intervention and after that when needed (need-based and individually tailored consultations, in-home visits and follow-up calls) Goal-orientated peer support group meetings for caregivers ( 5 meetings with 8-10 participants in two months' intervals during the first intervention year, each meeting for 5 hours, including peer support sessions of 2 hours and recreational elements.Spouses with dementia had their own rehabilitation groups at the same time.
Sponsors
The Central Union for the Welfare of the Aged
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
45 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Family: A spouse caring his/ her partner with dementia, living in the City of Helsinki, FinlandPatient: the minimum score of 1 in Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CRD) and the maximum score of 24 in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).
Exclusion criteria
Either spouse had some severe disease (e.g. cancer) that might lead to institutionalisation or death in near future.
Outcome results
None listed