Implementing a Family Caregiver Checklist in Primary Care: A Pilot Study

Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Caregiver Burnout

Treatments: Behavioral: Usual Care; Behavioral: Collaborative Healthcare Encounters with Caregivers (CHEC)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT04946942

5K01AG061275 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

21-04023513

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this project is to pilot test CHEC (Collaborative Healthcare Encounters with Caregivers) in primary care. CHEC is brief intervention with two components: 1) a checklist to identify the needs and concerns of unpaid/family caregivers who accompany older patients (aged 65+) to their primary care visits and 2) accompanying Tip Sheet for clinicians.

Enrollment: 113 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21 to 89 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Patients

• Age 65-89
• English speaking
• Women and men
• Of varying race/ethnicity
• Accompanied to primary care visits at the Center on Aging by a family caregiver (family caregiver also consents to participating in this study)
• Sufficient cognitive capacity to consent themselves or through a legal representative

Caregivers

• Age 21+
• English speaking
• Women and men
• Of varying race/ethnicity
• Accompany an older adult to his or her primary care visits at the Center on Aging (Older adult also consents to participating in this study)
• Cognitively intact (on basis of a 6-item cognitive screen)

Clinicians

• Age 21+
• Women and men
• Of varying race/ethnicity
• Treat patients at the Center on Aging

Exclusion criteria

• Patients, caregivers, and clinicians that do not meet the inclusion criteria.
• Patients and caregivers who are deaf or have hearing impairments that limit their ability to answer telephone queries.
• Caregivers who are visually impaired and cannot see well enough to read large print and complete paper-based surveys.
• Patients and/or caregivers whose dyad counterpart does not consent to take part in the study (i.e., Patients gives consent and their caregiver does not).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Screening

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

113 participants in 2 patient groups

Caregiver Checklist (CHEC)

Experimental group

Description:

CHEC is composed of two elements: 1) a checklist to identify the needs and concerns of unpaid/family caregivers who accompany older adults (aged 65+) to their primary care visits and 2) Tip Sheet for clinicians.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Collaborative Healthcare Encounters with Caregivers (CHEC)

Usual care

Active Comparator group

Description:

Attendance at primary care appointments as usual.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Usual Care