Sustained Benefit of a Psycho-educational Training Program for Dementia Caregivers in Taiwan

What is known from the existing literature about peer support interventions for carers of individuals living with dementia: A scoping review

“…In total 28 original studies were identified that tested an intervention comprising solely of peer support or had a peer support component. We examined the extent, nature and distribution of the studies included in this review and determined the following: the majority of studies ( n = 12) used a trial design including randomised controlled trials, pragmatic randomised trials, randomised controlled evaluations, randomised controlled two group design or randomised pilot studies (Charlesworth et al, ; Finkel et al, ; Gaugler et al, , , , ; Gaugler, Reese, Reese, & Mittelman, ; Hayden, Glynn, Hahn, Randall, & Randolph, ; Laakkonen et al, , ; Lai et al, ; Martindale‐Adams, Nichols, Burns, Graney, & Zuber, ; Mittelman et al, ; Núñez‐Naveira et al, ; Torkamani et al, ; Wai Tong & Lee, ; Wang & Chien, ; Wang et al, ; Winter & Gitlin, ), eight studies used a pre/post‐test design (Boots, de Vugt, Withagen, Kempen, & Verhey, ; Chenoweth et al, ; Chu et al, ; Dam, van Boxtel, Rozendaal, Verhey, & de Vugt, ; Gaugler, Hobday, et al, ; Hsu et al, ; Javadpour, Ahmadzadeh, & Bahredar, ; O'Connor, Arizmendi, & Kaszniak, ), four a quasi‐experimental design (Andren & Elmståhl, , ; Easom, Alston, & Coleman, ; Marziali & Garcia, ; Pagán‐Ortiz, Cortés, Rudloff, Weitzman, & Levkoff, ), two a quasi‐experiment with mixed methods design (Baily, Kingsyon, Alford, Taylor, & Tolhurst, ; Küçükgüçlü, Akpınar Söylemez, Yener, & Işık, ) and the final two studies used mixed methods (Hattink, Droes, Sikkes, Oostra, & Lemstra, ; McKechnie, Barker, & Stott, ).…”

“…Results demonstrate that it is difficult to deduce if or what components may or may not be effective for dementia carers, with results providing a very mixed landscape in relation to the effectiveness of the differing interventions or corresponding mode of delivery. Overall, of the 36 identified research papers, ten papers reported the assessment of a psychological outcome, however, there is limited evidence on psychological wellbeing impact as significant improvement was reported in only two of these studies (Boots et al, ; Marziali & Garcia, ) both of which were online interventions; 30 research papers reported on feelings of burden/anxiety/depression of these 19 stated a significant improvement (Andren & Elmståhl, ; Chenoweth et al, ; Chu et al, ; Easom et al, ; Finkel et al, ; Gaugler, Reese, et al, ; Gaugler et al, , , ; Hsu et al, ; Javadpour et al, ; Küçükgüçlü et al, ; Marziali & Garcia, ; Núñez‐Naveira et al, ; Torkamani et al, ; Wai Tong & Lee, ; Wang & Chien, ; Wang et al, ; Winter & Gitlin, ); 20 papers provided findings from the assessment of health and well‐being, of these 11 had significant findings (Easom et al, ; Gaugler, Reese, et al, ; Hsu et al, ; Javadpour et al, ; Laakkonen et al, ; Marziali & Garcia, ; Mittelman et al, ; Torkamani et al, ; Wai Tong & Lee, ; Wang & Chien, ; Wang et al, ); six papers reported findings linked to carer satisfaction of which two produced significant findings (Andren & Elmståhl, ; Gaugler, Hobday, et al, ). Finally, 13 papers stated the findings from the assessed level of support, of these five reported significant improvement (Dam et al, ; Gaugler, Reese, et al, ; Marziali & Garcia, ; Wai Tong & Lee, ; Wang et al, ) (Figure ).…”

“…Across the 36 research papers 14 ( n = 10 face‐to‐face; n = 4 online) reported significant findings across all of their identified outcomes (Boots et al, ; Chu et al, ; Easom et al, ; Gaugler, Hobday, et al, ; Gaugler, Reese, et al, ; Gaugler et al, , ; Hsu et al, ; Javadpour et al, ; Küçükgüçlü et al, ; Marziali & Garcia, ; Torkamani et al, ; Wai Tong & Lee, ; Wang et al, ), and all contained multi‐component interventions. Ten papers ( n = 8 face‐to‐face, n = 2 online) demonstrated significant effectiveness across some of their outcomes (Andren & Elmståhl, ; Chenoweth et al, ; Dam et al, ; Finkel et al, ; Gaugler et al, ; Laakkonen et al, ; Mittelman et al, ; Núñez‐Naveira et al, ; Wang & Chien, ; Winter & Gitlin, ) and 10 did not identify any significant effectiveness across any outcomes ( n = 6 face‐to‐face; n = 4 online) (Andren & Elmståhl, ; Baily et al, ; Charlesworth et al, ; Gaugler et al, ; Laakkonen et al, ; Lai et al, ; Martindale‐Adams et al, ; McKechnie et al, ; O'Connor et al, ; Pagán‐Ortiz et al, ).…”

Factors associated with health‐related quality of life among family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease

“…The total ZBI score in our study was similar to the total ZBI score of caregivers for dementia patients in Taiwan in the same period (41.79 AE 12.24). 26 Slachevsky et al 8 reported that according to ZBI, 62.5% of caregivers were under severe burden in Chile. The possible reason is that there is difference in survey areas and research objects, and difference in nursing insurance systems and various nursing service items.…”

Interventions for Caregivers of People with Dementia in Greece

“…It helps caregivers in making difficult decisions that concern the care and the treatment of their care receivers and they learn to be flexible in the negotiation of alternative solutions [18]. According to Hsu et al [19] caregivers may have sustained benefit of reducing burden, decreasing psychological morbidity and enhancing psychological wellbeing after attending a psycho-educational intervention.…”