Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: A diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease entails the need for significant education and support systems for the patient and caregiver. Unfortunately, educational and social work interventions are often delayed until a specific need, or even a crisis, is evident. We have developed proactive dementia care (PDC) - a program integrating health education and social work interventions into the management plan. The goal of PDC is to empower patients and family members with a unified plan tailored for their needs to enable maximizing quality of life. We are conducting an IRB approved randomized clinical trial, comparing the effectiveness of PDC and standard dementia specialist care (SDSC) in achieving important caregiver, patient, and health system outcomes. The primary measures include: Preventive Milestones in Dementia Care (PMDC), Caregiver Strain Instrument (CSI),Care Satisfaction Survey (CSS), and the Resource Use Inventory (RUI) (See Figure 1) SDSC is defined as the usual care a dementia specialist provides unassisted by social work or health education, which depends solely upon patient and family initiated psychosocial interventions. We compare PDC and SDSC outcomes at 4 and 12 months. Subjects clinically identified as likely to have a degenerative dementia in a specialty clinic are approached for enrollment in the study. To date we have enrolled 42 of the 100 subjects sought for this project. Sixty-eight subjects were approached to participate with 42 subjects enrolling in the study. The primary reason for declining enrollment was geographical distance to the center. Currently, there are 24 subjects enrolled in the PDC arm of the study and 18 subjects in the SDSC arm. (See Study Demographics Table 1) Eight subjects have completed the 4-month assessment. Results will be disseminated upon completion of the first phase (4 month evaluation) of the trial. Conducting a trial to assess the potential advantages of pre-emptive education and social work intervention is possible and acceptable to patients and their families. Results of the study may help shape specialty dementia care.
Source: Alzheimer s & Dementia
Authors: Edward Zamrini, Troy Andersen, Norman Foster
Institution: University of Utah
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2094425741