Primary Care-based Study of an Online Workshop for Family Caregivers of PLWD

Summary

Many family and friend caregivers of persons living with dementia experience depression, stress, and other adverse health consequences due to the responsibilities of their caregiving role. These caregivers express a desire for education and support. The overarching goal of this project is to improve education and support for caregivers of persons living with dementia so that they can take better care of themselves and also their person living with dementia.

Building Better Caregivers workshop is an online, 6-week, small group workshop for family caregivers of persons living with dementia that teaches them caregiving skills and how to manage difficult emotions, stress, and other challenging aspects of caregiving. Caregivers also receive support from other caregivers and two trained workshop facilitators and a workbook to keep. The workshop uses asynchronous delivery that allows caregivers to use materials at home when they have time day or night, self-pace their learning, and chat with other caregivers through threaded discussion board conversations.

In this pilot embedded pragmatic clinical trial the investigators will evaluate the workshop among 108 caregivers who receive health care in urban areas of California and rural areas of New York. To achieve the project goals the investigators will (1) determine the feasibility of identifying, enrolling, and randomizing caregivers to a workshop group or wait-list group; (2) assess the feasibility of using electronic health record data as study outcomes, including depressive symptoms of caregivers and emergency room visits and hospitalizations of their patients with dementia; and (3) determine whether caregivers complete the workshop and think it is acceptable.

If this pilot trial is successful, the investigators will have the information necessary to conduct a larger study among many additional caregivers with the long-term goal of improving their health and the well-being of their person with dementia.

Conditions

• Family Caregivers
• Dementia
• Self-management
• Depression
• Internet-based Intervention

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Building Better Caregivers workshop

The BBC workshop is a 6-week, online, peer-led small group workshop designed for family caregivers of persons living with dementia or other form of cognitive impairment. It is an evidence-based workshop of the Self-Management Resource Center originally developed at Stanford University for the Veterans Administration and is now licensed for online delivery by Canary Health. Content focuses on increasing participant self-management behaviors, dementia caregiving skills, and peer social support. The workshop uses a peer-facilitated small group format with frequent online interactions between approximately 27 participants on threaded discussion boards. Activities are guided by two trained peer co-facilitators (caregivers themselves). Each week focuses on 2-3 new topics and tools for participants to learn and use. In threaded discussion board conversations participants interact, help each other, and provide peer social support.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of California, San Francisco

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Veronica Yank, MD · University of California, San Francisco

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-03-19

Primary Completion

2026-01-21

Completion

2026-02-09

Countries

• United States

Study Locations