Impact of professionally facilitated peer support for family carers of people with dementia in a WeChat virtual community

Abstract

Introduction Dementia is an important issue affecting families and society. Family carers face challenges accessing support due to homebound duties of caring for people with dementia. Internet-based support provides feasible and accessible opportunities. Methods A single-group repeated-measures study was conducted with carers who provide primary care or regularly participate in care for relatives with dementia in a WeChat virtual community. Interventions included three to six months of peer and professional support, included peer emotional support, lectures and consultation, technique support and articles. Self-administered online questionnaires were used pre and post intervention to collect carers’ feedback on activities, indicators of depression, helplessness, perceived stress, carer burden, distress caused by responsive behaviours and self-efficacy. Results A total of 159 carers participated. Of these, 136 (85.5%) were active members according to the amount of information shared in community. A total of 92.4% of carers thought the help and support from the community were important or very important. There were statistically significant differences after intervention for depression (p < 0.05), perceived stress (p < 0.05), helplessness (p < 0.001), self-efficacy total score (p < 0.05) and two domains of gathering information and obtaining support (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant decrease after intervention for distress caused by responsive behaviours and carer burden (p>0.05). Discussion Professional facilitated peer support based on WeChat virtual community is feasible and acceptable for family carers of people with dementia. It can reduce carers’ perceived pressure, helplessness and depression, and improve self-efficacy compared to pre participation.