Learning Skills Together Pilot Study

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Intervention
Complex Care
Family Caregiving
Self Efficacy

Interventions: Behavioral: Learning Skills Together

Registration Number: NCT04428034

Lead Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Brief Summary: The Learning Skills Together (LST) program is a synchronous web-based educational intervention developed to address the essential need for training to equip family caregivers to someone with mid-stage Alzheimer's disease to confidently provide complex care tasks.The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility of delivering LST, the program's acceptability to caregivers, and likelihood of effecting caregivers self-efficacy and mastery.

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 41

Inclusion Criteria

Family member (including families of choice) to an individual living with Alzheimer's disease who has received a diagnosis from a physician
Ages 18 and old
Provides assistance with at least two instrumental activities of daily living or one activity of daily living
Care recipient is described as being within mid-stage Alzheimer's Disease
There are no plans to place the care recipient in a skilled nursing facility within the next 3 months

Exclusion Criteria

The caregiver is paid to provide care
The caregiver does not have reliable access to a computer and internet
The caregiver is unable to read and speak English

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Learning Skills Together Intervention	Learning Skills Together	Participants in the Learning Skills Together program will begin their participation with a one-on-one phone call with an interventionist, who will ensure the participant is prepared to to attend the group sessions (e.g., familiar with videoconference technology) and will help the participant to set individual goals. The caregiver participant will then attend 4, group-based sessions lasting approximately 1.5 hours each, to learn about common complex care tasks managed by family caregivers to someone with mid-stage Alzheimer's disease, such as managing behavioral symptoms of dementia, incontinence, nutrition, transferring, medication management, and more. Sessions will integrate interactive activities, such as videos, case studies, and discussions. Approximately four weeks later, caregivers will be asked to attend a group reflection session to discuss application of what was learned and progress in meeting individual goals.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Caregiver Competency	Change from baseline to 4 weeks post-intervention; and to 8 weeks post-intervention	This will be measured using the Caregiving Competence Scale. This measure includes 3-items pertaining to caregiver's confidence (e.g., "I feel confident that I am meeting the needs of my relative"). There are five response options to each statement ("Strongly Disagree" \[1\] to "Strongly Agree" \[5\]), such that scores may range from 3 to 15. A lower score indicates a lower level of confidence that the caregiver is meeting their relative's needs (i.e., higher scores are better). The outcome measure will use the average change score from baseline scores.
Change in Caregiver Mastery	Change from baseline to 4 weeks post-intervention; and to 8 weeks post-intervention	This will be measured using the Caregiver Mastery Scale. This 7-item scale asks participants the extent to which they feel they have control over various parts of their lives (e.g., "I have little control over the things that happen to me"). Participants may respond that they "Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly agree (4) with each statement, such that scores range from 7 to 28. The lower the score, the less control the caregiver feels that they have control (i.e., higher scores are better). The mean score for this measure among caregivers to frail older adults was previously reported as 19.42 (SD 3.29), with Cronbach's alpha of 0.78. The outcome measure will use the average change score from baseline scores.

Secondary Outcome Measures