Can the Residential Care Transition Module improve the psychological health of family carers of people with dementia during the residential care placement process in Australia?

The psychosocial intervention is the Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM). Those allocated to the intervention group will be invited to participate in six individualised telephone- or video-counselling sessions. These will be delivered by a trained Transition Counsellor (TC; registered counsellor or psychologist, masters level or above), using a detailed intervention protocol which includes the following components: 1) Processing the carer’s experience and helping to review and validate the decision to admit their relative into RAC. Assessment of individual needs and issues for future sessions. 2) Education about dementia and the RAC environment and procedures. 3) Discussion of communication skills to support effectively working with RAC staff to provide person-centred care. 4) The impact of loss and anticipatory grief associated with the admission process, separation from a family member, and the progression of dementia. 5) Transition into new caregiving roles. 6) Any remaining residual emotional and cognitive dissonance. The TC will provide problem-solving and coping strategies; psychological and emotional validation and support; and direction to community support and resources, as required. Each one-hour session will be tailored to the participant’s needs. To establish rapport and minimise withdrawal, the first three sessions will be scheduled weekly if possible (weeks 1, 2, 3) and every three weeks thereafter (weeks 6, 9, 12). Ad-hoc sessions will also be provided where necessary. If the carer’s relative with dementia dies during the intervention period, the TC will continue to offer the sessions to help facilitate the grief process. The intervention group will also receive printed information from Dementia Australia. The provision of intervention sessions will be documented by the TC (date of session, time started and finished, topics covered, outcomes to follow-up for next session, any changes made and reasons for doing so) to determine “dose” of the intervention and to help inform subsequent sessions. 20% of audio-recorded sessions will be selected (with consent) to check adherence to the protocol by the Trial Manager (treatment fidelity).