Effects of Dementia Intervention Programs on the Elderly with Dementia and Professional Caregivers in LTCF

Abstract

To verify the effects of dementia intervention programs offered in long-term care facilities (LTCF) on the elderly with dementia and professional caregivers, this study employed a one-group pretest-posttest pre-experimental design. The subjects were the elderly with dementia who received 8 sessions (once or twice weekly) of dementia intervention programs in 11 facilities na- tionwide and their professional caregivers who had been working in the facili- ties for more than a month. The outcome variables in the elderly with dementia included cognitive functions(MMSE-KC), depression(SGDS_K), activities of daily living(Barthel Activity of Daily Living Index), and psycho-behavioral functions(NPI-K). The professional caregivers' outcome variables included self- efficacy(IGNSE) and care burden(S-ZBI). In brief, dementia intervention pro- grams significantly improved the dementia subjects' cognitive functions(t=-2.50 p=.016), depression(t=4.00 p<.001) and psycho-behavioral functions(t=3.09, p=.003). The subjects' activities daily of living(t=-1.56 p=.126) and profession- al caregivers' self-efficacy(t=-1.67, p=.101) and care burden(t=.53, p=.598) im- proved marginally, showing no statistical significance. Importantly, profession- al caregivers' decreasing self-efficacy and increasing care burden should be not- ed in comparison to the functional improvement in the elderly with dementia. Hence, the findings suggest that current dementia intervention programs should be constantly offered in LTCF and that sophisticated intervention programs should be developed that are effective for raising professional caregivers' self- efficacy whilst lessening their care burden.