Family meetings in Memory clinics

Completed

Conditions: Affective disorders (i.e., depressive or anxiety disorders) of dementia caregivers
Depression
Mental and Behavioural Disorders

Registration Number: ISRCTN90163486

Lead Sponsor: Vrije University Medical Centre (VUMC) (The Netherlands)

Brief Summary: Not available

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: Completed

Sex: Not specified

Target Recruitment: 172

Inclusion Criteria

1. Family caregiver who takes primary responsibility for the informal care of a community dwelling patient with a clinical diagnosis of dementia and who lives in the same region as the patient. We only include spouses, children (in-law), brothers and sisters of the patient
2. In each family, at least one other family member lives in the same region of the patient and caregiver
3. Both caregiver and patient have sufficient language proficiency in Dutch for adequate participation in meetings, interviews and tests
4. Written informed consent from both patient and caregiver is obtained. In case of mental incompetence of a patient the family caregiver will sign the consent for the patient

Exclusion Criteria

1. Severe somatic or psychiatric co-morbidity of either caregiver or patient, which will significantly impair cooperation to the program
2. Either caregiver or patient participates in other intervention studies at inclusion or during the study
3. Scheduled to move a patient to a nursing home

Study & Design

Study Type: Interventional

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
1. Incidence of major depression and anxiety disorders (i.e. generalised anxiety and panic) as defined according to DSM-IV criteria<br>2. Dimension/severity of anxiety and depression symptoms<br><br>Both primary and secondary outcome measures will be measured at baseline and at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Caregiver:<br>1. Caregiver Burden<br>2. Quality of life<br> <br>Additional psychological questionnaires are used to explore profiles of caregivers who are best helped by the intervention.<br><br>Patients:<br>1. Depressive symptoms in patients (Neuropsychiatric Inventory [NPI])<br>2. Quality of life<br><br>Other:<br>1. (In)-direct costs caregiver and patient<br>2. Time until institutionalisation<br><br>Both primary and secondary outcome measures will be measured at baseline and at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after baseline