Testing the Effectiveness of Telephone Support for Dementia Caregivers
Completed · Not applicable
Conditions studied: Dementia, Alzheimer Disease
In brief
The primary goal of the study is documentation of effectiveness of telephone support groups to reduce caregiver burden and stress. Caregivers who participate in intervention (Telephone Support) should experience lower levels of stress, burden and health care utilization (lower use of psychotropic drugs, fewer scheduled/unscheduled medical visits, lower rates of institutionalization, more efficient use of time in managing care recipient problems) compared to those caregivers in Usual Care.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT00119561
- Run by
- US Department of Veterans Affairs
- People needed
- 154
- Starts
- 2005-02-01
- Expected to finish
- 2014-01-01
- Last updated by the study team
- 2015-04-07
Who can join
Age: 21 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.
You may qualify if…
- Caregiver
- Age: 21 years or older
- Family member of the care recipient
- Must live with care recipient or share cooking facilities
- Must have a telephone
- Must plan to remain in the area for the duration of the intervention and follow-up
- Caregiver role for more than 6 months
- Must provide an average of 4 hours of supervision or direct assistance per day for the care recipient
- Risk Screening Tool: must have a total score of at least 1 for question 36, and a total of at least 2 for questions 38-40 (on the Screening Form)
- Care Recipient
- NINCDS (MD diagnosis) or cognitive impairment (raw score on MMSE of 23 or less)
- Must be a Veteran with dementia or being cared for by a Veteran who receives services at the Memphis VAMC
You may not qualify if…
- Caregiver
- Active treatment (chemotherapy; radiation therapy) for cancer
- Imminent placement of care recipient into a nursing home (within 6 months)
- SPMSQ: > 4 errors
- Care Recipient
- History of Parkinson's Disease or a stroke with no reported decline in memory over the past year
- Active treatment (chemotherapy or radiation therapy) for cancer
- More than three acute medical hospitalizations in the past year (other than psychiatric or Alzheimer's Disease related admissions)
- Schizophrenia (onset of delusions before age 45) or other severe mental illness
- Dementia secondary to head trauma (probable)
- Blindness or deafness if either disability prohibits them from data collection or participation in the interventions
- MMSE = 0 and Bedbound (routinely confined to bed or chair for at least 22 hours a day, for at least 4 of the last 7 days)
- Planned nursing home admission in 6 months
Where it is running
- Memphis VA Medical Center, Memphis, TN — Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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