A web-based information intervention for family caregivers of patients with Dementia: A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a web-based health information intervention on knowledge, care burden and attitudes of family caregivers of patients with dementia. This study is a unblinded randomised controlled trial. The study population consisted of family caregivers of patients with dementia ( n = 50) which were randomly allocated to the intervention group (access to the web-based health information) or control group (access to information as usual). The participants completed knowledge, care burden and attitude questionnaire at baseline and at two months follow-up. A total of 50 caregivers participated in this study. Before the intervention, there was no statistically significant difference between the knowledge, care burden and attitude score between the two groups. In comparison to the control group after the intervention, participants in the intervention group showed significant improvements in all outcomes. These findings provide further evidence that web-based information interventions helped caregivers feel more confident, empathetic and concerned about dementia care with less care burden.