The Alzheimer's Companion Engagement (ACE) Project.

University of Michigan

Status: Completed

Conditions: Adaptation, Psychological; Stress, Psychological

Treatments: Behavioral: Education Support

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT04856462

HUM00230940

1K01AG065420-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Black family caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer's disease and/or related dementias (ADRD), have an increased mortality risk related to pre-existing health conditions and stress. Targeted, culturally responsive, health interventions that help Black ADRD caregivers to effectively manage their own health and use community preferenced ways of coping, can improve caregivers' overall health, perceived ability to provide care for a person with ADRD (self-efficacy), and increases the likelihood that they will experience benefits from caregiving. This clinical trial pilot will test the feasibility of a community based intervention designed to improve health outcomes for Black family caregivers of persons with ADRD.

Full description

The proposed intervention is a peer-supportive and facilitator-led video teleconference program that will engage small groups of caregivers weekly over 6 weeks. Each week participants (n = 36, 2-5/group) will receive a different culturally relevant caregiving or personal health strategy to practice. During the support calls, a facilitator will provide an overview of the content covered and each participant will have the opportunity to discuss their past week and how they engaged the weekly strategy, or challenges that came up for them during the week. The format will be structured to ensure that core content is reviewed, and everyone can be equally engaged while flexible enough that caregivers can receive support in the areas they need. A battery of assessment measures will be taken at weeks 1 and 8.

Enrollment: 25 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria for participation are as follows:

Self-identified as Black/ African American At least 18 years old Able to speak, understand, and hear spoken English Related to, or has a close personal relationship to a person over the age of 55 that has an ADRD diagnosis or evidence of cognitive impairment Regular access to a smartphone, tablet or computer with internet access that will allow video conferencing engagement.

Provides monitoring, and assistance in activities of daily living and or other care tasks for the care recipient.

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Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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25 participants in 1 patient group

Caregiver Support

Experimental group

Description:

All participants in all groups will receive 6 weeks of caregiving support including a weekly video/teleconference call, and handouts covering relevant educational topics)

Treatment:

Behavioral: Education Support