A Family-Centered Case Management Intervention for Persons with Early to Moderate Dement and Their Family Caregivers---A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: The growing number of persons with dementia (PWDs) leads to both policy, economic and health organization constraints. Therefore, dementia care has become a public health issue. Recent case management (CM) research is beginning to identify how characteristics of the target population, care settings, and intervention components influence effectiveness of interventions. However, research gaps are identified, including a paucity of CM practice to conceptualize the changing needs of dementia FCGs, a lack of high quality controlled trials of CM intervention for PWDs and their FCGs, and inadequate treatment fidelity. Therefore, the purpose of this three-year project is to test the effectiveness of a family- centered randomized controlled CM intervention for FCGs and early to moderate PWDs at home based on stress models and tailor to needs prioritized by FCGs. Design: In the first six months of the first year, we will conduct research assistant training and test questionnaire reliability. Then we will conduct a randomized control trial with a multi-component case management intervention for the dementia family caregivers. A sample of seventy-six dyads will be recruited (36 for the experimental group vs. 36 for the control groups). First, the case manager will conduct a need assessment on FCGs during the initial meeting in the first month, then provide related education, consultation, social support, and stress reduction skills in 3 month, 6 month, and 9 month by visiting the FCGs in the experimental group. In addition, the case manager will provide biweekly telephone follow-up and monthly brief home visit service to assist FCGs in problem solving and health assessment, respectively. The control group will receive social contact by phone from the case manager and receive the intervention at the end of the intervention. Results: The primary outcomes for patients are behavioral problems. The primary outcomes for FCG are distress, burden, health behavior, social support and depression, while the secondary outcome for FCG is their quality of life. Conclusion: The results of this proposal can improve the care of dementia patients at home and maintain health of family caregivers (287 words).

Project ID:PC10108-0748
External Project ID:NSC101-2314-B182-079