Anxious Symptoms, Depressive Symptoms, Guilt, Stress, Physiological
Conditions
Keywords
Caregivers, Dementia, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Guilt, Psychotherapy
Brief summary
Participants in the intervention study will be 120 caregivers with guilt feelings linked with care and high levels of emotional distress (anxiety and/or depression), randomly allocated to the intervention conditions: intervention group and cognitive-behavioral comparison group. The intervention will be provided in a group setting and will consist in 8 sessions plus 3 booster sessions. The effect of the intervention on guilt feelings, depressive and anxious symptomatology, and biomarkers of cardiovascular risk will be assessed after the intervention and at follow-ups at 6 months.
Detailed description
1. Contact with collaborator centers. Centers with previous collaboration with the research team will provide contact data of potential participants. In addition, information of the project will be made available through posters, news, and internet (e.g., social networks). 2. Previous to the assessment each participant will be randomly allocated to the intervention conditions (guilt focused intervention (GFI) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)) following the CONSORT recommendations. Randomization will be made through random numbers using computerized procedures. 3. Once contacted, caregivers will be requested to sign an informed consent and, if the inclusion criteria are met, the interview will take place. Interviews will be conducted by trained psychologists blinded to the project aims and hypothesis. 4. The interviews will consist in questions and questionnaires specifically selected for the project. 5. The intervention conditions have been developed following previous studies by the team or recognized researchers, or following previous research studies in the topic of caregiving stress or related topics (e.g. psychotherapeutic strategies for reducing distress). 6. The interventions will take place in group format (maximum 8 participants per group). Each intervention will consist in 8 weekly sessions plus 3 booster sessions in a 5 month period. 7. Participants will be assessed again after the intervention (2 months) and at the follow-up (6 months).
Interventions
BEHAVIORALGuilt Focused Intervention
Psychotherapy, group intervention
BEHAVIORALCognitive behavioral therapy
Psychotherapy, group intervention
Sponsors
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Masking description
Participants and assessors are blinded to the study research objectives and aims and to the available and obtained treatment condition.
Intervention model description
Randomized controlled trial with two treatment conditions
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Identifying themselves as the main caregiver of the relative with dementia * Dedicating at least one daily hour to caregiving tasks * Having cared for at least three consecutive months * Not having participated in a psychotherapeutic intervention in the last year * Showing scores equal or higher than 16 on the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) and/or 13 on the Tension-Anxiety subscale from the Profile of Mood States scale (POMS; McNair et al., 1971) * Showing a score of at least 16 in the Caregiver Guilt Questionnaire (Losada et al., 2010).
Exclusion criteria
* Those different to the inclusion criteria
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Guilt symptoms | Pre-intervention, post-intervention (two months after the intervention) and follow-up (6 months after the intervention) | Caregivers' feelings of guilt are measured using the Caregiver Guilt Questionnaire (Losada, A., Márquez-González, M., Peñacoba, C., & Romero-Moreno, R., 2010) |
| Depressive symptoms | Pre-intervention, post-intervention (two months after the intervention) and follow-up (6 months after the intervention) | The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) is used |
| Anxiety symptoms | Pre-intervention, post-intervention (two months after the intervention) and follow-up (6 months after the intervention) | Caregivers' symptoms of anxiety are measured through the Tension-Anxiety subscale from the Profile of Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr, & Droppleman, 1971) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Caregiving stressors | Pre-intervention, post-intervention (two months after the intervention) and follow-up (6 months after the intervention) | Care-recipients' behavioral and psychological symptoms were measured with the disruptive behaviors subscale of the Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist (RMBPC; Teri, 1992) |
Countries
Spain
Outcome results
None listed