Abstract:
Background: Elders with dementia have serious behavioral problems and require extensive care from caregivers. This poses a significant problem for patients’ families. Multicomponent interventions have been reported to be more effective than interventions targeting one point of caregiver functioning. This study aims to examine the effect of a home visit and telephone tracking program on knowledge, caregiver burden, and quality of life among dementia caregivers.
Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental with two group comparisons during November 2018 – July 2019. The participants of this study comprised 62 dementia caregivers (31 participants in intervention and 31 participants in control group) from Ratchaburi Hospital in Ratchaburi Province, Thailand. The intervention group received a home visit and telephone tracking program while the control group received usual care. Data was collected at baseline, immediately after the end of the program, and three months after the end of the program by questionnaires to compare the knowledge, caregiver burden, and quality of life of dementia caregivers.
The majority of both groups were female, 41-60 years, daughter of dementia patients and graduated from primary school and high school. The sociodemographic data of dementia caregivers, level of knowledge, caregiver burden, and quality of life among dementia caregivers before receiving the home visit and telephone tracking program are similar between intervention and control group (p > .05). The results indicated the knowledge score and quality of life of intervention group were found significantly higher than control group following the intervention immediately after the end of the program or week 8 (p < .001) and three months after the end of the program or week 20 (p < .001). The caregiver burden score of dementia caregiver in intervention group decreased while the caregiver burden score of dementia caregiver in control increased at week 8 (p < .001). The caregiver burden score of both groups was decreased at week 20. However, there was no statistically significant difference between groups as demonstrated by ANOVA (F (1.58) = 2.394, p = 0.127).
Conclusion: The home visit and telephone tracking program had a positive effect on knowledge and quality of life in dementia caregivers. However, the program did not affect caregiver burden. Reducing the caregiver burden should increase the duration of the program and add other activities into the program.
