Caregiver Stress Syndrome, Dementia, Psychological Well-Being
Conditions
Brief summary
The objective of this study is to test the efficacy of e-bibliotherapy on improving the psychological well-being of informal caregivers of people with dementia as compared with a control group.
Detailed description
This project is a two-arm randomized controlled trial evaluating the effects of e-bibliotherapy on improving the psychological well-being of informal caregivers of people with dementia. One hundred and ninety-two informal caregivers of people with dementia will be recruited. Participants in the intervention group will receive eight weekly e-bibliotherapy sessions. The control group will get access to the same e-bibliotherapy app but accept only general daily living knowledge. Psychological well-being, caregiving appraisal, mental health, biomarker of stress, and health-related quality of life will be measured to test the effects of e-bibliotherapy immediately post-intervention, three months post-intervention, and six months post-intervention. Focus group interviews will be conducted immediately post-intervention to explore caregivers' experiences participating in this study.
Interventions
OTHERE-bibliotherapy
Participants in the intervention group will accept eight weekly sessions of e-bibliotherapy. The e-bibliotherapy will be delivered via the e-bibliotherapy app we develop and includes eight e-bibliotherapy sessions, each focusing on one active component that may affect a caregiver's mental well-being.
OTHERControl
The control group will give access to the same e-bibliotherapy app, but only be authorized to access general daily living knowledge that is different from the intervention contents. They will also be asked to finish a session each week for eight weeks.
Sponsors
Health and Medical Research Fund
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* primary caregivers aged 18 or above; * provide unpaid regular care to a person with mild to moderately severe dementia (measured by Global Deterioration Scale, GDS=4\ 6); * have cared for the care recipient for at least six months; * assist with at least one of the care recipient's daily activities; * use a smartphone or tablet; * can read Chinese.
Exclusion criteria
* caregivers with unstable physical or mental conditions; * have cognitive impairment; * are undergoing acute treatment or have not yet stabilized on their chronic medication; * are involved in another interventional study
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes on psychological well-being | Pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, three and six-month post-intervention | Psychological well-being will be measured by the Chinese version of Ryff's Psychological Well-being Scale. It is a 6-point Likert scale with 1=strongly disagree to 6=totally agree. It includes 18 items. A higher score indicates better psychological well-being. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes on caregiving appraisal | Pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, three and six-month post-intervention | Caregiving appraisal will be measured by the Chinese version of the Caregiving Appraisal Scale. It is a 5-point Likert scale (1=extremly disagree, 5=strongly agree) including 26 items. Higher scores indicate more positive caregiving appraisal. |
| Changes on mental health | Pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, three and six-month post-intervention | Mental health will be measured by the Chinese version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). DASS-21 is a 4-point Likert scale (0=totally unfit my condition, 3=very fit my condition). It includes 21 items. Higher scores indicate worse mental health problems. |
| Changes on biomarker of stress | Pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, three and six-month post-intervention | Saliva cortisol concentration will be used. |
| Changes on health-related quality of life | Pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, three and six-month post-intervention | Health-related quality of life will be measured by the 12-item Short Form Survey (SF-12). SF-12 includes 12 items. Scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better physical and mental health functioning. |
Outcome results
None listed