Project CARE-D - Online Caregiver Education for Dementia

Summary

Managing daily symptoms for people with Alzheimer's Disease or Related Dementia (ADRD) can be challenging and confusing for informal caregivers who are family members or friends and not paid for their assistance. This is due, in part, to gaps in knowledge. Ensuring that informal caregivers are properly educated about ADRD symptoms and treatment guidelines is an essential first step for reducing adverse health events that people living with ADRD experience and addressing the substantial emotional and physical burden that caregivers report. The goal of is project is to improve caregiver education to support treatment adherence for ADRD with retrieval practice. This intervention incorporates principles from the science of learning for structuring retrieval practice to optimize learning and that are effective across the lifespan to compensate for gaps in knowledge and processing capabilities including learners who experience associative memory deficits due to age, their own disease state, or other factors.

Conditions

• Dementia

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Structured Retrieval Practice

The primary learning principle driving the proposed learning intervention is retrieval practice. The efficacy of spaced retrieval practice for learning is supported by a large and robust literature. Accurately recalling information during practice increases the probability that information will be accessible later when the stakes are higher. Caregivers studied all 12 BPSD in the learning phase, at their own pace, and then completed retrieval practice trials by answering multiple choice questions. Each multiple choice question had 1 correct answer and 3 incorrect lures. Detailed, corrective, and elaborative feedback was provided after each response to reinforce correct answers and correct wrong responses. The order of learning strategy was randomized per caregiver, and caregivers went through the learning phase a total of three times. Strategy was consistent between trials.

BEHAVIORAL

Business as usual learning

Caregivers were informed that they would read about 12 BPSD and that they should try their best to read each text as if they were researching the material on their own. Caregivers then studied each of the 12 BPSD, one-by-one, in a webpage format, at their own pace.

BEHAVIORAL

Standard Retrieval Practice

Caregivers completed retrieval practice trials during learning by responding to multiple choice questions each with 1 correct answer and 3 incorrect lures. No feedback was provided following their response selections.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Texas Christian University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-05-01

Primary Completion

2025-08-31

Completion

2025-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations