scholarly journals GAMEPLAN4CARE: AN ONLINE TRANSLATION OF REACH II REFINED THROUGH EARLY STAKEHOLDER USABILITY TESTING

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S674-S675
Author(s):  
Jinmyoung Cho ◽  
Alan B Stevens ◽  
Thomas Birchfield ◽  
Sandhya Sanghi ◽  
Ashley Vernon ◽  
...  

Abstract Despite a number of evidences on the implementation of multicomponent education and support programs to improve the lives of dementia caregivers, there is still a need to adapt these interventions to various implementation settings and preferences of a new generation of caregivers. In this study, we present the development and usability testing of a dementia caregiver support program, GamePlan4Care (GP4C), an online translation of the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health II (REACH II) intervention. The goal of the GP4C is to create an online family caregiver support system that would facilitate delivery of an evidence-based skills-training and support for dementia caregivers with the potential of both scalability and sustainability. GP4C includes the full breadth of REACH II education and skill-building materials, delivered within an automated, online platform with integrated support from a Dementia Care Specialist via telephone/video conferencing. Dementia caregivers, community agency staff, and other experts are involved in usability testing to ensure acceptability of this new approach to intervention delivery. The software development is completed and usability testing is currently underway. The feasibility and success of this new modality of intervention delivery will be made possible by an innovative intervention design supported by appropriate technical and content elements. We will also present the strategies employed to adapt the intervention to an online platform capable of supporting caregiver self-directed exposure to therapeutic content, the results of usability testing with approximately 32 caregivers, and feedback from other external stakeholders on the feasibility of this approach.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 4-4
Author(s):  
Alan Stevens ◽  
Thomas Birchfield ◽  
Kira Swensen ◽  
Joseph Banda ◽  
Jinmyoung Cho

Abstract GamePlan4Care (GP4C) is a web-based adaptation of the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health II (REACH II) caregiver intervention, redesigned and reformatted for online delivery. The goal of GP4C is to create an online family caregiver support platform that facilitates self-directed exposure to evidence-based skills-training and support for dementia caregivers. This approach of utilizing technology enhanced with live support has the potential for scalability and sustainability. In preparation for an ongoing randomized clinical trial, the GP4C platform underwent industry standard user interface/user experience (UI/UX) testing with dementia caregivers as part of an iterative design process. Testing of caregiver’s reaction to technical and content-related aspects of the system was conducted with 31 caregivers. The thematic analysis revealed three themes for technical aspects (logical flow, suggestions on features, innovative resource) and two themes for content aspects (satisfaction and engagement). We will discuss technical and content modifications resulting from UI/UX.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinhee Cha ◽  
Colleen M. Peterson ◽  
Ashley N Millenbah ◽  
Katie Louwagie ◽  
Zachary G Baker ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Estimates suggest that 6.2 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2021 and by 2060, that number could more than double to 13.8 million. As a result, public health officials anticipate a greater need for caregivers for persons with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia (ADRD), as well as support resources for both people living with dementia (PLWD) and their caregivers. Despite the growing need for dementia caregiver support services, there is a lack of consensus regarding how to tailor these services to best meet the heterogeneous needs of individual caregivers. To fill this gap, “Care To Plan” (CtP), an online tool for caregivers of PLWD, was developed to provide tailored support recommendations to dementia caregivers. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to formally explore the feasibility, acceptability and utility of CtP for 20 family members of PLWD within a health system over a one month time period using a mixed methods parallel convergent design. METHODS A moderately sized health system in the mid-Atlantic region was selected as the site for CtP implementation where 20 caregivers who were family members of PLWD were enrolled. The web-based CtP tool was used directly by caregivers and facilitated by a healthcare professional (i.e., a “senior care navigator”/SCN). Caregivers were given a 21-item review checklist to assess barriers and facilitators associated with reviewing CtP with a SCN. Following the 21-item review checklist, semi-structured telephone interviews, which included 18 open-ended questions, focused on the facilitators and barriers to CtP implementation and recommendations for future implementation. RESULTS Quantitative results suggested that 76.5% and 85.7% of caregivers agreed or strongly agreed that after using the tool they were able to find a service that would meet their needs and those of their care recipient, respectively. Qualitative analysis identified four themes regarding facilitators and barriers to implementation: 1) caregiver factors, 2) SCN factors, 3) CtP tool system factors, and 4) recommendations and resources factors. CONCLUSIONS Care to Plan was not only found to be feasible, but a valuable tool for caregivers seeking resources for themselves as well as their PLWD. Longer-term evaluation findings aim to generate results as to how CtP can be integrated into care plans for caregivers and how SCNs can provide additional support for caregivers for PLWD over an extended period of time.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S489-S489
Author(s):  
Amy M Houston ◽  
Elisabeth Harfmann ◽  
Amy Olzmann ◽  
Glenna Brewster ◽  
Hannah Ottmar

Abstract Given the rapidly changing demographics, there will be an increasing number of individuals with dementia who will need significant support from informal caregivers. Providing care for an individual with dementia has been associated with negative outcomes in a number of domains including physical health, mental health, financial status and social functioning. There is a small but growing base of literature suggesting that fostering psychological flexibility, including acceptance, with dementia caregivers may be a helpful intervention. Experiential avoidance, which is the less adaptive alternative to acceptance, is the aversion from negative internal experiences including thoughts, feeling and physical sensations. Experiential avoidance has been found to be significantly related to depression and negative affect. The present study utilized online dementia caregiver support group samples (n = 158) to evaluate the relationship between experiential avoidance and general demographics, other aspects of psychological flexibility, and caregiver distress. Experiential avoidance was positively correlated with cognitive fusion (r(134) = .231, p < .01), caregiver burden (r(127) = .258, p < .01), and distress associated with dementia related behaviors (r(140) = .225, p < .01). Experiential avoidance was negatively correlated with engaged living (r(133) = -.244, p < .01), mindfulness (r(123) = -.187, p < .05), and self-rated health (r(138) = -.193, p < .05). Additionally, experiential avoidance was significantly higher for male caregivers (t(136)=2.462, p=.015) and those age 65 and over (t(134)=-2.421, p=.017). These findings support previous research that suggests experiential avoidance may be an important construct to target in future interventions with dementia caregivers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 725-747 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Fonareva ◽  
Barry S. Oken

ABSTRACTBackground:Chronic stress negatively affects health and well-being. A growing population of informal dementia caregivers experience chronic stress associated with extraordinary demands of caring for a relative with dementia. This review summarizes physiological and functional changes due to chronic dementia caregiver stress.Methods:A literature search for papers assessing effects of dementia caregiving was conducted focusing on publications evaluating differences between caregivers and non-caregivers in objective measures of health and cognition.Results:The review identified 37 studies describing data from 4,145 participants including 749 dementia caregivers and 3,396 non-caregiver peers. Objective outcome measures affected in dementia caregivers included markers of dyscoagulation, inflammation, and cell aging as well as measures of immune function, sleep, and cognition. Though diverse in designs, samples, and study quality, the majority of the studies indicated increased vulnerability of dementia caregivers to detrimental changes in health and cognition. Demographic and personality characteristics moderating or mediating effects of chronic stress in caregivers were also reviewed.Conclusions:There is accumulating evidence that chronic dementia caregiver stress increases their vulnerability to disease and diminishes their ability to provide optimal care. Clinicians and society need to appreciate the extent of deleterious effects of chronic stress on dementia caregiver health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 769-769
Author(s):  
Jaime Perales Puchalt

Abstract Latino family caregivers of people with dementia have low access to caregiver support. Text messaging holds potential to dramatically enhance the reach of caregiver support interventions among Latinos. This presentation will describe the CuidaTXT Project, with a special emphasis on approach to recruitment and community engagement to achieve the objectives of designing and testing the first dementia caregiver-support text message intervention for Latinos. Based on the Stress Process Framework, CuidaTXT incorporates social support and coping components including AD education, problem-solving skills training, social network support, care management and referral to community resources via tailored two-way messaging. Engagement in CuidaTXT benefited from multi-source recruitment efforts in the Latino community-network built over a three-year period. The network is comprised of senior, religious and community centers, the local media, clinics, a Latino registry and a dementia health navigation service. This presentation will describe processes for assembling and engaging the network for CuidaTXT.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Folarin Omoniyi Babatunde ◽  
Joy MacDermid ◽  
Ruby Grewal ◽  
Luciana Macedo ◽  
Mike Szekeres

BACKGROUND Ineffective coping has been linked to prolonged pain, distress, anxiety, and depression after a hand and upper limb injury. Evidence shows that interventions based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may be effective in improving treatment outcomes, but traditional psychological interventions are resource intensive and unrealistic in busy hand therapy practices. Developing web-based, evidence-based psychological interventions specifically for hand therapy may be feasible in clinical practice and at home with reduced training and travel costs. Hand Therapy Online Coping Skills (HOCOS) is a program developed to supplement traditional hand therapy with therapist-assisted coping skills training based on principles from CBT and the Technology Acceptance Model. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to describe the development and assess the usability of HOCOS to support hand therapists in the management of psychosocial problems. METHODS The ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) of system design was applied to create HOCOS. The usability testing of HOCOS involved a 2-stage process. In the first step, heuristic testing with information and communications technology (ICT) experts was completed using two sets of heuristics: Monkman heuristics and the Health Literacy Online (HLO) checklist. The second step involved user testing with hand therapists performing a series of online and face-to-face activities, completing 12 tasks on the website using the think-aloud protocol, completing the system usability scale (SUS) questionnaire, and a semistructured feedback interview in 2 iterative cycles. Descriptive statistics and content analyses were used to organize the data. RESULTS In total, 4 ICT experts and 12 therapists completed usability testing. The heuristic evaluation revealed 15 of 35 violations on the HLO checklist and 5 of 11 violations on the Monkman heuristics. Initially, hand therapists found 5 tasks to be difficult but were able to complete all 12 tasks after the second cycle of testing. The cognitive interview findings were organized into 6 themes: task performance, navigation, design esthetics, content, functionality and features, and desire for future use. Usability issues identified were addressed in two iterative cycles. There was good agreement on all items of the SUS. Overall, therapists found that HOCOS was a detailed and helpful learning resource for therapists and patients. CONCLUSIONS We describe the development and usability testing of HOCOS; a new web-based psychosocial intervention for individuals with a hand and upper limb injuries. HOCOS targets psychosocial problems linked to prolonged pain and disability by increasing access to therapist-guided coping skills training. We actively involved target users in the development and usability evaluation of the website. The final website was modified to meet the needs and preferences of the participants.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 1697-1706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Gresham ◽  
Megan Heffernan ◽  
Henry Brodaty

ABSTRACTBackground:Caring for persons with dementia is stressful for family caregivers. Caregiver training programs and respite care can reduce this stress and help maintain persons with dementia living longer in the community. We evaluated a program that combines caregiver training with a residential respite stay.Methods:In total, 90 dyads of persons with dementia and their caregivers, in groups of 3–6 dyads, volunteered to participate in a five-day residential training program and were followed-up 6 and 12 months later. The primary outcome was caregiver depression; secondary outcomes were measures of caregiver burden, unmet needs, person with dementia behavioral symptoms, and the quality of life and function.Results:Caregiver depression and burden were unchanged, despite decreasing function in persons with dementia. Caregivers’ unmet needs and behavioral symptoms in persons with dementia decreased significantly. Compared to a group of persons with dementia admitted for routine residential respite care, there was a marked reduction in permanent placement over 12 months.Conclusions:The Going to Stay at Home Program is a feasible and practicable model with benefits for caregivers and persons with dementia. It may lead to delay in institutionalization and may be applicable to other chronic conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S434-S434
Author(s):  
Chelsea Liu ◽  
Adrian Badana ◽  
Julia Burgdorf ◽  
Chanee D Fabius ◽  
William E Haley ◽  
...  

Abstract Studies comparing racial/ethnic differences on psychological and physical outcomes of dementia caregivers have often reported differences in well-being for minority groups compared to Whites. However, due to issues with enrolling minorities into studies, recruitment methods often differ for minority and White participants and may lead to biased comparisons. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine racial/ethnic differences in dementia caregiver outcomes and to determine whether any differences vary among studies with population-based samples compared to convenience samples. We systematically reviewed articles with primary data from PubMed, Google Scholar and PsycINFO, and included studies comparing either African American (AA) or Hispanic/Latino dementia caregivers to White caregivers on measures of psychological health (e.g. depression, anxiety, burden) and physical health (e.g. self-rated health, cardiovascular measures, stress biomarkers). Reviewers screened titles and abstracts, reviewed full texts and conducted risk-of-bias assessments. A total of 207 effects were extracted from 40 studies. Random-effects models showed that Hispanics/Latinos reported significantly lower levels of well-being than Whites (ps < .05) for both psychological outcomes (37 effects) and physical outcomes (15 effects), while AAs were not significantly different from Whites in either domain. No differences were observed for population-based studies (N=3; 23 effects) or convenience-sample studies (N=37; 184 effects). Although some previous studies with convenience samples found better psychological well-being in AA caregivers, that pattern was not confirmed in our meta-analysis. Additional analyses for the different indicators of well-being and the relationship of quality ratings to effect sizes will be discussed along with implications for future research.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document