Dementia
Conditions
Keywords
dementia, care-giving, communication, mobile application
Brief summary
Background The mental, physical, and emotional health of caregivers is negatively affected by the burden of caring for of persons living with dementia. Caregivers are usually reported as feeling frustrated, angry, exhausted, guilty, helpless and unable to bear the heavy burden of their caregiving responsibilities. In addition to depressive symptoms and other mental health problems among caregivers, the physical stress of caring for someone who is unable to perform daily activities such as bathing, grooming and other personal care, has been shown to be a serious threat to caregivers' physical health outcomes. Evidence has shown that greater levels of stress, anxiety, depression, frustration, and lower subjective well-being and self-efficacy are exhibited in a greater amount among family and friends who care for persons living with dementia compared to those who do not have the burden of caring for a persons living with dementia. Caregivers have been shown to use alcohol and other drugs at a higher rate than those who do not need to care for others as a reaction to this increased stress. Studies has also shown that caregivers are more likely than non-Caregivers to use opioid or psychotropic medications. One over five caregivers (22%) feel tired when they go to bed at night. Objectives This study relies on a mobile application (Caring4Dementia) that provides people, caring for a person living with dementia, with a useful and intuitive training tool targeting communication skills. The aims of this study are to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of using Caring4Dementia within a self-administered program and the preliminary efficacy of the Caring4Dementia intervention.
Interventions
DEVICECaring4Dementia
A mobile application administered for 30 days, which provides people caring for a person living with dementia with a useful and intuitive tool targeting communication skills.
OTHERWhite Paper
The White Paper group will receive a white paper (hard copy and electronically) on the principles of communicating efficiently with persons living with dementia.
Sponsors
University of Manitoba
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Intervention model description
Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Informal caregiver of a person living with dementia for more than 6 months * Able to read and understand English * Able to use smartphones and tablets (Apple or Android) * Have a smartphone or tablet (Apple or Android) with internet connection, involved in this study * 18 years or over * Give written and oral informed consent
Exclusion criteria
* None
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in caregiver well-being | Baseline (Day 1), post (day 30), Retention (90 days) after baseline | Measured by the Caregiver Well-Being Scale to determine the frequency in which basic needs and activities of living have been met for the caregiver within the last three months. Items in this self-reported scale are scored on a 5-point scale \[ranging form Rarely (1) to Usually (5)\], with a higher dimension score indicating greater intensity in that dimension. The highest score possible is 70, meaning a higher well-being. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in caregiver burden | Baseline (Day 1), post (day 30), Retention (90 days) after baseline | Measured by the Short version of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers. This is a 10-item instrument. Each item is a statement that is rated on a 4-point scale with the values strongly disagree (0), disagree (1), agree (2), and strongly agree (3). The scale ranges from 0 to 30, with a higher dimension score indicating greater intensity in that dimension. |
| Change in caregivers' perceived challenges and resources | Baseline (Day 1), post (day 30), Retention (90 days) after baseline | Measured by the Adult Carer Quality of Life Questionnaire, a 40-item instrument that measures the overall quality of life for adult carers, and subscale scores for eight domains of quality of life. Scores on the overall questionnaire have a possible range of 0 to 120 with higher scores indicating greater quality of life. |
| Activity volume on the Caring4Dementia app | 30 days | Usage logs will be saved on the cloud to quantify the time (s) spent on every activity for all the activities. |
| Activity frequency on the Caring4Dementia app | 30 days | Usage logs will be saved on the cloud to quantify the frequency of use of every activity in the application for all the activities (how many time per day the caregiver engage in the activity). |
Countries
Canada
Contacts
Primary ContactAmine Choukou, PhD
Outcome results
None listed