Effects of a dementia care partner psychoeducation program on dyadic relationship quality

Tele-Savvy, a psychoeducation program for dementia care partners, was designed to improve caregiver mastery (e.g., confidence). While the program focused on care partner's outcomes, there were potential benefits to the quality of the relationship between the person living with dementia and the care partner.

This secondary data analysis examined the dyadic relationship quality (i.e., positive interaction and dyadic strain) as reported by 261 care partners from baseline to 6 months postintervention across three treatment arms of the clinical trial: Active group who immediately received Tele-Savvy (n = 96), a Healthy Living attention control group (n = 111), and a Waitlist Control group (n = 54), which care partners received Tele-Savvy after 6 months.

In the Tele-Savvy group, care partners reported significant improvements in positive interactions and reduction in dyadic strain over time compared with the care partners in both the Healthy Living and Waitlist Control groups. After all groups received Tele-Savvy, all care partners improved their positive interaction with the person living with dementia and experienced less dyadic strain over time.

The focus of Tele-Savvy is not on improving the quality of dyadic relationships. Our results suggest that interventions focused on the care partner's self-efficacy have the potential to improve the dyadic relationship from the perspective of the care partner, and interventions should include dyadic measures even if from the perspective of one member of the dyad.

NCT03033875.