Partners in caregiving: trained dementia family caregivers fare better after one year

Following baseline measurements, persons caring for community-living demented family members were randomly assigned to two intervention groups or a wait-list control group in an NINR-supported evaluation of family caregiver training programs. These similar programs were designed to provide skills and knowledge and develop attitudes to help family members understand and meet the challenges of the caregiving tasks they had assumed. After one year, all care recipients declined in function and all remaining caregivers (129) indicated declines in self-reported health and relationship with care recipient. T-test analysis showed controls (39) experiencing significantly increased Burden (.006) and Distress (.011) and a significant decline in Mastery (.004) (with no significant change for the experimentals). In ANOVA comparisons of controls and the combined experimentals (90), controlling for ADLs and behavior, experimentals are significantly less depressed (.046) and emotionally enmeshed (.046). Not significant, but of interest, experimentals are less distressed (.059) and less burdened (.092).