Online Self-Management Support for Family Caregivers Dealing With Behavior Changes in Relatives With Dementia (Part...

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Digital Health
• Caregiver Support

Background:

• Online health professional contact offers potential support for family caregivers of individuals with dementia.
• Family caregivers face challenges managing behavioral changes in relatives with dementia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an online self-management support intervention for family caregivers of people with dementia.
• To compare interventions with and without personal email contact with a dementia nurse.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involved 81 family caregivers.
• Three arms: major (email, videos, e-bulletins), medium (videos, e-bulletins), and minor (e-bulletins only).
• Primary outcome: caregiver self-efficacy; secondary outcomes: behavior problems and relationship quality, measured at baseline, 6, and 12 weeks.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in self-efficacy between the major and minor intervention groups.
• The medium intervention showed a negative trend in self-efficacy compared to the minor intervention.
• No significant differences were found in behavior problems or relationship quality across groups.

Conclusions:

• The hypothesis that online interventions with personal email contacts would be more effective was not supported.
• Low engagement with email contacts and online videos may have influenced results.
• Future research should focus on strategies to increase participant engagement in online interventions.