Application of a caregiving self-management support program in patients with dementia and their caregivers

Abstract

Objective To examine the effect of a Caregiving Self-Management Support (C-SMS) Program on self-efficacy, social support for family caregivers of people with dementia and psychological symptom of patients. Methods Using the convenient sampling method, 41 caregivers of dementia patients were selected as the study objects from September 2016 to September 2017 in the Memory Disorders Outpatient Department of two ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals in Shanghai. They were divided into the experimental group (n=26) and control group (n=15) according to their willingness. Totally 4 participants in each of the two groups dropped out of the study in the middle. In the experimental group, a total of 6 times, once in 2 weeks social support group activities were carried out; in the control group, a total of 3 telephone instruction, once a month was carried out, all participants were distributed with the Caregiver Educational Booklet prepared by the research team and participated 3 education seminars during the follow-up visit. Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Chinese Family Caregivers (SEQCFC) and Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS) and Revised Memory and Behaviour Problems Checklist (RMBPC) were used to compare the effect of intervention. Results The time effect of the total score of SEQCFC was significant (P<0.01) . There was a statistically significance in the interaction on social support score between groups and time (P<0.05) . After intervention and follow-up, the self-efficacy scores of family caregivers in the experimental group were higher than the baseline (P<0.05) . There were significant time effect in the total score of behavioral and psychological symptom behavioral symptoms, memory and depression related problems (P<0.05) . The total score of behavioral and psychological symptom, score of the disruptive behaviour dimension after follow-up visit, scores of the depression dimension after intervention and follow-up visit in the experimental group were all lower than the baseline (P<0.05) . Conclusions The self-management support project of caregivers can improve the self-efficacy of family caregivers and alleviate the behavioral and psychological symptom of dementia patients. Key words: Dementia; Caregiving self-management support program; Behavioral and psychological symptom; Self-efficacy; Social support