TY - JOUR
T1 - Care of family caregivers of persons with dementia (CaFCa) through a tailor-made mobile app
T2 - Study protocol of a complex intervention study
AU - Kabir, Zarina Nahar
AU - Leung, Angela Yee Man
AU - Grundberg, Åke
AU - Boström, Anne Marie
AU - Lämås, Kristina
AU - Kallström, Ana Paula
AU - Moberg, Cecilia
AU - Cronfalk, Berit Seiger
AU - Meijer, Sebastiaan
AU - Konradsen, Hanne
N1 - Funding Information:
The study in Stockholm was initiated with institutional seed funding from Karolinska Institute and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The 3 years intervention project is financed by the Kamprad Foundation (Reference: 20180087). It also received a number of other grants from Karolinska Institute (KI), namely KI Engagement Grant, Verify for Impact Grant and Strategic Research Area in Health Care Science (Dnr 2–2764/207). None of the funders will have any role or authority on any part of the study design, its execution, data analyses and interpretation, or its publications. Open Access funding provided by Karolinska Institute.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s).
PY - 2020/8/26
Y1 - 2020/8/26
N2 - Background: Globally, family members account for the main source of caregiving of persons with dementia living at home. Providing care to family members with dementia often has negative health consequences for caregivers such as stress, depression and low quality of life. Yet, formal support for family caregivers (FCs) is limited. Telehealth technology has the potential to provide health care and social support to FCs. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of providing support by healthcare professionals (HPs) through a mobile app in reducing stress, depressive symptoms and loneliness, and improving mental health and quality of life of FCs of persons with dementia. Methods: Using a pragmatic intervention design, this study will use pre- A nd post-intervention assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed intervention in a sample of 78 FCs of persons with dementia (PWD). The intervention will be implemented by approximately 5 HPs specialized in dementia care based in the municipalities in Sweden. The main thrust of the intervention is to provide professional support, with help of an interactive mobile app, to family members in their caregiving role for PWDs. Qualitative interviews with HPs and FCs form the groundwork of the development of the mobile app. By using the app on smart phone or tablet, the FC, in groups of 8-10, will communicate with peers and a HP exchanging ideas on how to deal with PWD's behavioral and cognitive changes and get support. They will also be able to discuss stressful events and access mindfulness exercises focused on themselves. Quantitative data will be collected before and at three time points after the 8-week intervention to assess changes in the health outcomes of the FCs. In-depth interviews will be conducted after the intervention to capture the experiences of FCs and HPs regarding the ease of use and acceptability of the app. Discussion: This tailor-made mobile app has the high potential to be a practical platform for supporting FCs to alleviate stress and improve mental health irrespective of distance to the nearest health care or social service center. Trial registration: ISRCTN, ISRCTN46137262. Registered 10 October 2019.
AB - Background: Globally, family members account for the main source of caregiving of persons with dementia living at home. Providing care to family members with dementia often has negative health consequences for caregivers such as stress, depression and low quality of life. Yet, formal support for family caregivers (FCs) is limited. Telehealth technology has the potential to provide health care and social support to FCs. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of providing support by healthcare professionals (HPs) through a mobile app in reducing stress, depressive symptoms and loneliness, and improving mental health and quality of life of FCs of persons with dementia. Methods: Using a pragmatic intervention design, this study will use pre- A nd post-intervention assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed intervention in a sample of 78 FCs of persons with dementia (PWD). The intervention will be implemented by approximately 5 HPs specialized in dementia care based in the municipalities in Sweden. The main thrust of the intervention is to provide professional support, with help of an interactive mobile app, to family members in their caregiving role for PWDs. Qualitative interviews with HPs and FCs form the groundwork of the development of the mobile app. By using the app on smart phone or tablet, the FC, in groups of 8-10, will communicate with peers and a HP exchanging ideas on how to deal with PWD's behavioral and cognitive changes and get support. They will also be able to discuss stressful events and access mindfulness exercises focused on themselves. Quantitative data will be collected before and at three time points after the 8-week intervention to assess changes in the health outcomes of the FCs. In-depth interviews will be conducted after the intervention to capture the experiences of FCs and HPs regarding the ease of use and acceptability of the app. Discussion: This tailor-made mobile app has the high potential to be a practical platform for supporting FCs to alleviate stress and improve mental health irrespective of distance to the nearest health care or social service center. Trial registration: ISRCTN, ISRCTN46137262. Registered 10 October 2019.
KW - Caregiver stress
KW - Caregiving
KW - Depressive symptoms
KW - Family caregiver
KW - Loneliness
KW - mHealth
KW - Person with dementia
KW - Telehealth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089993646&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12877-020-01712-7
DO - 10.1186/s12877-020-01712-7
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 32847495
AN - SCOPUS:85089993646
SN - 1471-2318
VL - 20
JO - BMC Geriatrics
JF - BMC Geriatrics
IS - 1
M1 - 305
ER -
