Knowledge and Interpersonal Skills to Develop Enhanced Relationships (KINDER)

Case Western Reserve University

Status and phase: Begins enrollment this month; Phase 2

Conditions: Elder Mistreatment; Caregiving; Quality of Care; Elder Abuse; Dementia

Treatments: Behavioral: Knowledge and Interpersonal Skills to Develop Enhanced Relationships; Behavioral: Healthy Living for the Caregiver

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT07216950

STUDY20250080

Details and patient eligibility

About

The Knowledge and Interpersonal Skills to Develop Enhanced Relationships (KINDER) intervention was developed to prevent psychological elder abuse (EA) and promote high-quality caregiving by lowering relationship strain and developing CG resourcefulness. The goal of this two-arm, randomized control trial is to determine the efficacy of KINDER at mitigating psychological EA by family caregivers to persons living with dementia and to describe how the intervention may work to reduce psychological EA.

Enrollment: 260 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Family member, including family of choice, to an individual living with AD/ADRD
• Is aged 18 years or older;
• Provides assistance with at least two instrumental activities of daily living or one activity of daily living;
• Provides at least 4 hours of caregiving per day
• The care recipient is at least age 65 or older
• The care recipient has early or mid-stage AD/ADRD, as indicated by a score of 4 to 6 on the Global Deterioration Scale

Exclusion criteria

• Sees the care recipient in-person less than 2 times per week
• Has plans to place the care recipient in a skilled nursing facility within the next 8 months

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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260 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

KINDER Intervention Arm

Experimental group

Description:

KINDER is an 8-week intervention that consists of three facilitated group discussion sessions conducted over Zoom with a small group of caregivers, in addition to self-paced lessons delivered using a printed or PDF workbook, depending on participant preference. Throughout KINDER, caregivers reflect on their relationship, including how their behavior toward the care recipient may need to change considering new vulnerabilities with dementia, and how to communicate about topics that often contribute to conflict, such as balancing safety and independence (e.g., driving).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Knowledge and Interpersonal Skills to Develop Enhanced Relationships

Control Condition

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Caregivers in the control arm will receive a workbook that covers 8 weeks of content focused on healthy living (e.g., nutrition).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Healthy Living for the Caregiver