Technology-driven interventions for caregivers of persons with dementia: a systematic review

Caregiving for a person with dementia can lead to physical and psychological morbidity. Technology-driven interventions hold the promise of convenient, low-cost methods of delivering psychosocial interventions. This systematic review examined the efficacy of technology-driven interventions for caregivers of persons with dementia. A search of Ovid Medline, PsychInfo, and EBSCO from 1990 to May 2012 resulted in the identification of 295 articles. After removal of duplicates, 271 articles were reviewed, based on the abstract and title alone; 32 were relevant or could not be fully assessed without assessing the entire article. Eight fully satisfied the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Each of these had some positive findings. However, there was large variability in the content and delivery of the interventions and inconsistency in measurement and variability of outcomes. Future studies should employ randomized control trial methodology and measure outcomes with commonly used measures to ensure feasibility of comparisons across the studies.