Logo image
Back
Enhancing Resourcefulness to Improve Outcomes in Family Caregivers and Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease: A Pilot Randomized Trial
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Enhancing Resourcefulness to Improve Outcomes in Family Caregivers and Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease: A Pilot Randomized Trial

Elizabeth W. Gonzalez, Marcia Polansky, Carol F. Lippa, Laura N. Gitlin and Jaclene A. Zauszniewski
International journal of alzheimer's disease, v 2014(2014), pp 1-10
2014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/323478
PMID: 25328754
url
https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/323478View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY V4.0,  Open

Abstract

This pilot randomized trial tested an intervention aimed at enhancing resourcefulness in family caregivers of persons with dementia, postulating that caregivers’ emotional outcomes (anxiety and depression) and role outcomes (reward, strain, mutuality, and preparedness) would be improved, and problem behaviors in the care recipients (persons with dementia) would be reduced as a result of the intervention. Subjects were stratified by race (white or African American) and by baseline resourcefulness (high or low). Family caregivers were randomly assigned to an intervention group in which subjects attended six resourcefulness training sessions, meeting for 2 hours weekly over 6 weeks, or to a control group that received no treatment. Small to medium effects were shown for the intervention program on resourcefulness, anxiety, and preparedness of the caregivers and on frequency of behavior problems in the care recipients. Caregivers in the intervention group reported significantly more resourcefulness skills, with a medium effect at week 6 and a small effect 12 weeks later, compared with the control group. Persons with dementia had fewer behavior problems in the intervention group compared with control, although the difference was not significant. Caregivers’ anxiety was reduced in the intervention group at 12 weeks.

Metrics

22 Record Views
36 citations in Scopus

Details

Logo image