Improving caregiver well-being delays nursing home placement of patients with alzheimer's disease

Citation Mittelman, M., Haley, W., Clay, O. & Roth, D. (2006). Improving caregiver well-being delays nursing home placement of patients with alzheimer's disease. Neurology, 67, 1592-1599.

Design Randomized controlled study

Participants The participants were N=406 spouse caregivers of patients of Alzheimer?s disease

Outcome / Dependent Variables Psychological status of caregiver (measured on the Geriatric Depression Scale & MBPC & Burden Scale), Caregiver satisfaction w/ social support (measured on the Stokes Social Network Questionnaire), Caregiver and care receiver physical health (measured on the OARS Physical Health Form), and Extent of care receiver impairment was a co variate (measured on the Global Deterioration Scale & Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist).

Procedure Intervention consisted of 2 individual and 4 family counseling sessions tailored to caregiver's situation, support group participation and continuous availability of ad hoc telephone counseling

Outcomes Spouses receiving the intervention experienced a 28.3% reduction in the rate of nursing home placement compared to usual care controls. Median time to placement was 557 days (approx. 1.5 years). Improvements in caregiver satisfaction with social support, response to care receiver behavior problems and symptoms of depression accounted for 61.2% of interventions beneficial impact.

Author Mittelman, M., Haley, W., Clay, O. & Roth, D.