Telephone Support for Dementia Caregivers

Lifespan

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 2

Conditions: Dementia

Treatments: Behavioral: Family Intervention:Telephone Tracking Support- Caregiver; Behavioral: Telephone Support

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00735800

R01NR010559 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Caring for a patient with dementia is associated with increased feelings of burden and depression. The proposed study will examine the efficacy of Family Intervention: Telephone Tracking - Dementia (FITT-Dementia), a multi-component, family-based, telephone intervention, as a tool to reduce caregiver stress.

Full description

A previous pilot study of this approach showed reduced burden and reaction to memory and behavior problems for dementia caregivers. This study will test the intervention in a larger group of caregivers and have a more detailed analysis of outcomes.

The caregiver of a person with dementia will receive telephone support calls. They will receive telephone calls from a trained member of the research team. These calls will occur over a six-month period and will be scheduled at a time that is convenient for the caregiver. They will receive a total of 16 calls over 6 months. During each call, the support person will discuss their current caregiving situation and provide various forms of support.

Enrollment: 250 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 50 to 90 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 1. Diagnosis of dementia;
• 2. mild to moderate dementia;
• 3. family member or other adult in caregiver role for at least 6 months, and who provides at least 4 hours of supervision or direct assistance per day for the person with dementia;
• 4. care recipient lives in the community, including senior/retirement centers, but excluding nursing homes and assisted living centers; and
• 5. there is no plan for the care recipient to be placed in long term care or the caregiver to end their role within the next 6 months

Exclusion criteria

Patient:

• 1. other major medical condition affecting independent functioning
• 2. older than age 90; and
• 3. younger than age 50.

Caregiver:

• 1. major acute medical illness;
• 2. English not primary language;
• 3. cognitive impairment;
• 4. no access to a telephone; or
• 5. older than age 90.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

250 participants in 2 patient groups

Supportive Counseling

Active Comparator group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Telephone Support

Problem-Solving

Experimental group

Treatment:

Behavioral: Family Intervention:Telephone Tracking Support- Caregiver