Efficacy of an online intervention program to reduce dementia-related stigma in the general public aged 40 and older

This RCT compares different approaches to reduce dementia-related stigma: Education (ED) that is designed to provide written information on dementia; Contact (CT) that is designed to offer indirect virtual contact with people with dementia and/or carers; ED+CT that receive both ED and CT interventions; and an Active Control condition receiving information on general health. For the ED group, an adaptation of the dementia literacy module from the Body Brain Life (BBL; Trial ID:ACTRN12612000147886), the first online intervention program designed to reduce the risk of developing dementia, will be delivered online. The dementia literacy module was developed and improved with consumers direct feedback and it provides in-depth information about dementia in terms of definition, symptoms, pathology, and treatments. The BBL is written in lay persons language and is proven to improve dementia literacy in an RCT. Information on dementia-related stigma and its impacts have been added to this module for the current protocol and it will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the module. However, there is no time limit and participants would be able to complete the module within a week of starting it. Sharing accurate information is expected to offer information to help people better understand dementia and dispel misconceptions about the disease. Web analytics will be used to assess adherence to the intervention. Participants in the CT group will watch video clips reflecting what it is like to live with dementia and what it is like to care for someone with dementia. These video clips were created featuring people with dementia and carers answering frequently asked questions drawn from a focus group study conducted with 31 mid and older aged Australians. These questions include questions about dementia and about living with dementia (e.g. what is dementia? how can a family member better manage the life of a person with dementia?). To enhance the effects of the contact component, the DESeRvE program is designed so that the participants can choose questions from a pool of questions about what they would like to learn from people with dementia or carers. The program will then play relevant pre-recorded video clips in response to questions. This method will be used to make participants feel as if they are having a virtual conversation with a real person with dementia or carers instead of receiving a one-way dialogue. It is expected to be at least as effective as commonly used video-based contact approach, if not more effective. The participants will be able to ask as many questions as they wish within 20 minutes (including time to play video clips). As for the ED group, adherence will be assessed using web analytics and the CT intervention will be available for a week from the start of the intervention. This trial will be conducted to evaluate the short-term efficacy of an online intervention program utilising different approaches (ED, CT and ED+CT) compared with the Active Control. There will be 500 participants (125 in ED, 125 in CT, 125 in ED+CT and 125 in the Active Control group) followed for 12 weeks from baseline. There will be 2 follow up assessments (immediately after the completion of the intervention and at 12 weeks after commencement of the intervention).