Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Jun 25;15(7):863.
doi: 10.3390/bs15070863.

Online Interventions for Family Carers of People with Dementia That Focus on Support Strategies for Daily Living: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review

Julieta Camino  1 , Ana Paula Trucco  1 , Victoria McArthur  2 , Paul Sugarhood  3
Affiliations
Review

Online Interventions for Family Carers of People with Dementia That Focus on Support Strategies for Daily Living: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review

Julieta Camino et al. Behav Sci (Basel). .

Abstract

This review aimed to identify the available online interventions for family carers of people living with dementia and how effective they are when upskilling carers in how to support activities of daily living. Six databases were searched, and 10 articles with six online programmes were identified. Articles used an RCT design, a mixed approach, and a pre-post test design. Data were synthesised using a convergent integrated approach for mixed-methods reviews. Three overarching themes were identified, focusing on accessibility of the programme, the content and information provided, and the outcomes for the carer and the person with dementia. Online interventions with useful content for family carers of people with dementia are easy to access. However, this did not translate into carers' outcomes, where mixed results were found. No positive findings were reported for people with dementia in terms of social participation, autonomy or self-management abilities. Development of future online interventions should consider integrating carers' competence, skills and knowledge alongside daily activities to provide a comprehensive approach when training family carers.

Keywords: activities of daily living; dementia; family carers; online intervention; upskilling.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA 2020 flow diagram for included articles. * Reasons for exclusion: Reason 1: Outcomes do not meet inclusion criteria; Reason 2: Intervention does not meet inclusion criteria; Reason 3: Both outcomes and intervention do not meet inclusion criteria; Reason 4: Population does not meet inclusion criteria; Reason 5: No data reported.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Themes and subthemes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Occupational Therapy Association Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (4th ed.) American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2020;74((Suppl. S2)):7412410010. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2020.74S2001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aromataris E., Lockwood C., Porritt K., Pilla B., Jordan Z., editors. JBI Manual for evidence synthesis. 2024. [(accessed on 26 March 2025)]. Available online: https://synthesismanual.jbi.global.
    1. Aspvall K., Andersson E., Melin K., Norlin L., Eriksson V., Vigerland S., Jolstedt M., Silverberg-Mörse M., Wallin L., Sampaio F., Feldman I., Bottai M., Lenhard F., Mataix-Cols D., Serlachius E. Effect of an internet-delivered stepped-care program vs. in-person cognitive behavioral therapy on obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms in children and adolescents: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2021;325(18):1863–1873. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.3839. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bandura A. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioural change. Psychological Review. 1977;84:191–215. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barker T. H., Habibi N., Aromataris E., Stone J. C., Leonardi-Bee J., Sears K., Hasanoff S., Klugar M., Tufanaru C., Moola S., Munn Z. The revised JBI critical appraisal tool for the assessment of risk of bias quasi-experimental studies. JBI Evidence Synthesis. 2024;22(3):378–388. doi: 10.11124/JBIES-23-00268. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources