Remote Intervention to Support Caregivers of Latino People with Dementia: Feasibility Study
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Background and objectives
Latino people with dementia and their caregivers have poor mental health. We tested the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a texting and phone call intervention to support informal caregivers of Latino people with dementia.
Research design and methods
We enrolled 100 caregivers of 84 Latino people with dementia into a one-arm pre-post intervention trial. This caregiver intervention was remote, bilingual, lasted six months and included optional monthly phone calls to address unmet needs, and a bidirectional texting program focused on dementia education, skill-building and community resources. Outcomes included feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy (e.g., depressive symptomatology) within six months, measured via surveys and metrics of intervention usage.
Results
Eighty-eight percent of caregivers completed the follow-up assessment. Four caregivers unsubscribed from the intervention, 69.0% held at least one phone call visit, 91.0% sent at least one text message, 95.5% reported complying with at least some intervention recommendations, and 95.0% reported very or extremely high satisfaction levels. Effect sizes of change in all preliminary efficacy outcomes increased gradually as we restricted samples to those with worse baseline outcome values.
Discussion
The intervention demonstrated high levels of acceptability and feasibility. Phone calls did not engage caregivers as much as texting.
Implications
Future efficacy studies should restrict their eligibility criteria based on their outcome of interest. Outcomes with most efficacy promise include caregiver distress, depression and life satisfaction, and person with dementia’s depression.
