An internet‐based support program for family caregivers of community‐dwelling people with dementia: A pre‐post pilot study

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundCaregivers of people with dementia faces difficulties while constantly caring for their loved ones. Providing support programs should consider for promoting their experience of caregiving, quality of care, and will lead to delay institutionalization of dementia people. Implementing onsite support programs meets obstacles during the Covid‐19 pandemic, internet‐based interventions could be considered as a potential alternative.MethodsThis is a pre‐post pilot intervention study for primary family caregivers of community‐dwelling people with dementia. The 8‐week intervention program was delivered to the participants using ZOOM meetings software. This program consisted of 8 modules (one for each week): 1) reflecting on my caregiving journey, 2) understanding about dementia as a caregiver, 3) taking care of myself, 4) managing stress, 5) communicating with others, 6) learning how to take care of dementia people, 7) pleasant daily life, and 8) planning my caregiving journey. To assess the effects of the program, five caregiver’s outcomes were measured: Positive Aspects of Caregiving, (PAC), Caregiving Self‐Efficacy Scale (CgSES), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Health Risk Behaviors (HRB), and satisfaction.Results20 caregivers participated and 18 fully completed the pilot program. The participants have the mean age is 70.6, and 3.5 years playing the role of a family caregiver. The study findings found that the program significantly improved the PAC (P = .001), PSS (P = .027), and three sub‐domains of HRB: physical health (P < .000), mental health (P = .048), and leisure activities (P = .023). Whereas, though scores of the CgSES, and three remaining sub‐domains of HRB: care difficulty, building relationships, and getting help from others were better at the posttest compared with the pretest, these changes were not statistically significant. The participants scored 4.72 (maximum is 5) for their satisfaction with the program.ConclusionThis intervention program successfully improved quality of life and experience of the family caregivers related to their caregiving. Such online programs are a feasible solution in delivering supports to a huge subject anywhere while still mandated social distancing in this unpredictable Covid‐19 pandemic. Therefore, expanding this pilot should be considered.