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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2015 May;11(5):541-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2014.05.1752. Epub 2014 Jul 26.

Psychosocial telephone intervention for dementia caregivers: A randomized, controlled trial

Geoffrey Tremont  1 , Jennifer D Davis  2 , George D Papandonatos  3 , Brian R Ott  4 , Richard H Fortinsky  5 , Pedro Gozalo  6 , Mun Sang Yue  3 , Kimberly Bryant  7 , Christine Grover  7 , Duane S Bishop  7
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Psychosocial telephone intervention for dementia caregivers: A randomized, controlled trial

Geoffrey Tremont et al. Alzheimers Dement. 2015 May.

Abstract

Background: Identifying effective and accessible interventions for dementia caregivers is critical as dementia prevalence increases.

Objective: Examine the effects of a telephone-based intervention on caregiver well-being.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial.

Setting: Academic medical center.

Participants: Two hundred and fifty distressed, family, dementia caregivers.

Intervention: Caregivers randomized to receive 16 telephone contacts over 6 months of either the Family Intervention: Telephone Tracking-Caregiver (FITT-C) or Telephone Support (TS).

Outcome: Primary outcome variables were family caregivers' depressive symptoms, burden, and reactions to care recipients' behavior problems at 6 months.

Results: The FITT-C intervention resulted in significantly improved caregiver depressive symptoms (P = .003; 27% net improvement) and less severe reactions to care-recipient depressive behaviors (P = .009; 29% net improvement) compared with the control condition (TS).

Conclusion: An entirely telephone-based intervention improves caregivers' depressive symptoms and reactions to behavior problems in the care recipient and is comparable with reported results of face-to-face interventions.

Keywords: Burden; Caregiving; Dementia; Depression; Intervention.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Timeline of the Family Intervention: Telephone Tracking – Caregiver (FITT-C) and Telephone Support (TS) Interventions
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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