None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The care partner of a person with Alzheimer’s disease can be as much a “client” of a health service as a patient. They are heavily involved in facilitating the treatment and engagement of a patient, and thus need to be supported in this role that may have been unexpectedly thrust upon them. Care partner burnout has been identified as one of the main reasons individuals with dementia enter long-term care, therefore early intervention to support and empower care partners is critical. Interventions for care partners of individuals with a chronic illness have been shown to improve the psychological wellbeing of care partners. However, few empirical studies have been completed on the benefits of early intervention for care partners of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. ECLIPSE - a newly designed, weekly, small-group-based intervention - will be provided over a four-week period to care partners of individuals recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This project aims to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of ECLIPSE to improve psychological wellbeing, and to empower and support care partners.
Interventions
Interested care partners of people with mild Alzheimer’s disease will participate in the study. Four small-group sessions will be facilitated. The sessions will be held weekly via videoconference with up to 12 participants in total. Session attendance checklists will be used to monitor adherence to the intervention.
ECLIPSE will follow the COPE framework of Creativity, Optimism, Planning and Expert Information to develop problem-solving skills and awareness of stressors. Session topics will be
Interested care partners of people with mild Alzheimer’s disease will participate in the study. Four small-group sessions will be facilitated. The sessions will be held weekly via videoconference with up to 12 participants in total. Session attendance checklists will be used to monitor adherence to the intervention. ECLIPSE will follow the COPE framework of Creativity, Optimism, Planning and Expert Information to develop problem-solving skills and awareness of stressors. Session topics will be derived from collaboration with a Consumer Advisory Group. Broadly, the emphasis will be: 1. Psychoeducation 2. Symptoms and changes 3. Strategies to manage changes 4. Self-care for care partners Each session will be of approximately one and a half hours duration, and cover a particular topic. The sessions will be a mixture of information provided by experts in the field, group-led discussion based on care partner’s personal experiences, and interactive learning and development of new skills to assist them in their care partner role.
Sponsors
Monash University
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Primary purpose
Prevention
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
(i) Are aged 18 years or older (ii) Identify as being a care partner of an individual with mild Alzheimer’s disease. (iii) Engage in at least four hours of contact care per week. (iv) Have been a care partner for no longer than five years. (v) Are competent to consent based on their ability to provide a spontaneous narrative description of the key elements of the study.
Exclusion criteria
Have participated in a care partner support intervention within the past six months.
Outcome results
None listed