Case Manager Approach in Dementia Care From a Caregiver Perspective: A Grounded Theory Study

This was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with caregivers of community-dwelling people with dementia. Purposive sampling was used to recruit caregivers from Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing.

Study protocol would be explained by principal investigator (PI) to case managers in JCCPA, including aim and objectives of the study, inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria and interview questions.

Due to privacy issues, case managers in JCCPA would screen family caregivers and ask for consent to participate in the study. Contact method of caregivers would be provided to PI by JCCPA case managers upon caregivers' consent. PI would then approach caregivers to arrange online meetings and send the online consent form to them for their consideration and reference. Risks and benefits of the study and the right to withdraw from the study at any time would be explained to participants before consent form was signed by participants digitally.

Demographic data such as age, gender, education level, years of caregiving to PWD and time spent on caregiving would be collected using Google form.

All interviews were conducted through video-conferencing individually. Each interview took 30 to 45 minutes. The interviews were started with an close-ended question, such as "Do you know the special approach that JCCPA has adopted?" and "Did the staff tell you about it at admission?", followed up by open-ended questions such as "What do you know about case management?" and "Can you tell me how your caregiving experience was with case manager support?". Subsequent probing questions aimed at clarification and gaining more insight on their experience, was guided by the participant's responses.