Effects of Public intervention for family caregivers of people with dementia in South Korea: 6‐month follow‐up

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundFamily caregivers of people with dementia are at higher risk for perceived burden of caregiving. The current studies has shown the effectiveness of providing community‐based interventions for caregivers of people with dementia to lessen their burden. In this study, the observed follow‐up effects after the intervention were examined using healthcare utilization as well as quality of life and perceived burden of the family caregivers.MethodCommunity indwelling people ranged from 18‐90 years old including Dementia Relief Centers were recruited in the study. The participants were non‐randomly allocated into control or experimental group. The experimental group received a 8‐week public intervention focused on increasing knowledge on dementia and abilities to caring for people with dementia, while the control group received no intervention. Resources and utilization in dementia (RUD), health‐related quality of life, and caregiver burden of family caregivers of people with dementia, were measured using a questionnaire at pre‐intervention, post‐intervention and 6‐month follow‐up. Eighty‐one family caregivers with valid data on caring for people with dementia were included in this study.ResultThe present study will show significant difference in the change of healthcare utilization, health‐related quality of life, and caregiver burden between groups at 6‐month follow‐up. The specific study findings will be demonstrated in poster presentation of the conference.ConclusionA public community‐based intervention focused on supporting family caregivers of people with dementia will be effective strategy for decreasing the frequency of healthcare utilization as well as improving health‐related quality of life and caregiver burden of family caregiver of people with dementia even beyond the period of intervention.