Effects of e-Health Training and Social Support Interventions for Informal Caregivers of People with Dementia—A Narrative Review

Abstract

Along with the burden commonly experienced by informal caregivers (ICs) of people with dementia (PwD), associated with the progressive decline that accompanies dementia, the lockdown due to the public health crisis has had a great negative impact on the emotional wellbeing, physical health, and social relationships of ICs. Support interventions through telemedicine represent an opportunity for ICs to learn the skills required for the care and maintenance of social networks. In this work, a narrative review of the effects of e-health training and social support interventions was carried out. A literature search was conducted using the ProQuest, Ovid, and Scopus databases. Information regarding social support (SS), psychological interventions, and training for the management of medications and behavioral changes was extracted. One hundred and nine studies were included in this review. Forums and training platforms were the main tools for ICs. The most effective platforms to improve SS include the participation of both ICs and health professionals. However, no significant improvements in objective caring skills were identified. Platforms developed specifically for ICs should be based in tools that ICs are familiar with, because many ICs have not yet incorporated Information and Communication Technologies in many activities of their daily lives. Education in the digitalization to ICs of PwD should be one of the priority objectives in telehealth interventions.

A Change for the Worse: Negative Social Exchanges are Associated with an Accelerated Decline in Self-Rated Health Over Time

“…Given that the adverse health impact of negative social exchanges appears to outweigh the ameliorative impact of positive exchanges, these results have implications for interventions and policy. Specifically, the results suggest that greater focus is needed on reducing the impacts of harmful social interactions, in contrast to a more widely assumed focus of bolstering supportive interactions (Sitges-Maciá et al, 2021).…”

A Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Telephone Support Intervention for Diverse Family Caregivers of Persons With Dementia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Evidence shows that telephone-based programs are effective alternatives to in-person support programs (Cothran et al, 2021; Greenberg et al, 2020; Hwang et al, 2021; Kasar & Karaman, 2021; Mok et al, 2020; Sitges-Macia et al, 2021). More so, in the early pandemic, many caregivers were unfamiliar with web-based interfaces such as Zoom or Google Meet, which would have allowed for camera accessibility.…”

“…Telephone calls served as an effective and COVID-19 safe method to interact with caregivers who had limited social contact and access to services, including health care (Kasar & Karaman, 2021; Sitges-Macia et al, 2021). In response, a telephone-based intervention was developed to provide emotional support, need-based stress management skills, and COVID-19 safety information.…”

The Effect of a Tele-Health Intervention Program on Home-Dwelling Persons with Dementia or MCI and on Their Primary Caregivers during the Stay-at-Home-Order Period in the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: Evidence from Taiwan

“…Nevertheless, previous studies exploring whether or not the Tele-Health intervention program could benefit persons with dementia, or MCI and their caregivers, have demonstrated ambiguous results. Some studies found little or no effect of the Tele-health intervention program on caregivers’ burdens, depressive symptoms, and health-related quality of life [ 27 ], and found insignificant improvements in objective caring skills [ 28 ]. Conversely, other research revealed that the Tele-Health intervention program not only improves quality of life and ameliorates neuropsychiatric symptoms in persons with dementia or MCI, but also leads to a better health outcome for primary caregivers of persons with dementia or MCI, a lower risk of mental health impairment [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], burden reduction [ 29 , 33 ], and improvements in knowledge of dementia [ 29 ].…”