Translation of COPE for Publicly-Funded Home Care Clients and Their Families

More than 5 million Americans have dementia and more than 15 million Americans, mostly family members, provide unpaid care to these individuals. In the absence of a cure or widely effective pharmacotherapy to combat dementia, translation and implementation of efficacious non-pharmacologic interventions into existing service programs are sorely needed. The Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders (CHCPE), a Medicaid waiver and state revenue-funded program for older adults at high risk for nursing home admission, provides in-home and community-based services coordinated by care managers. In this translational study, an evidence-based intervention, Care of Persons with Dementia in their Environments (COPE), is incorporated into the CHCPE. COPE is an efficacious 4-month, in-home, non-pharmacologic intervention using occupational therapists and advanced practice nurses to maximize physical function in older adults with dementia and to improve dementia management skills of family caregivers (CG).

This trial will randomly assign 290 CHCPE clients with dementia and their CGs to receive either COPE plus customary CHCPE services, or customary CHCPE services alone. The main study outcome measures are similar to those of the original COPE efficacy trial. To maximize the translational effort, this study also will: conduct a formal cost-benefit analysis to determine the potential economic benefit of adding COPE to customary CHCPE services; evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of COPE as a new CHCPE service; and establish an expert Translational Advisory Committee to help develop and guide COPE dissemination plans for implementation nationally.

Study aims for CHCPE clients:

Aim 1.1: Determine COPE effect on functional dependence 4 months after randomization (primary study endpoint).

Aim 1.2: Determine COPE effects on engagement in activities, quality of life, and NPS, 4 months after randomization.