Improving Sleep in Veterans and Their CGs

This study addresses the neglected topic of sleep disturbance in older caregiving dyads-a topic that has important implications for the safety, health, functioning and quality of life of older Veterans living at home and being cared for by a family caregiver (CG). The purpose of the study was to develop and field test non-pharmacological, technology enhanced sleep hygiene, exercise and meditation interventions to improve sleep in Veteran caregiving dyads.The conceptual framework of the intervention incorporated components of cognitive behavioral therapy, psycho-education and self-management support for individuals with chronic conditions with an emphasis on cultivating competence and mastery.

Research Plan:

Sample. Veteran care receivers(CR s) or carepartners (CP) over the age of 60 who require assistance from a spousal or cohabitating caregiver (CG) and Veteran caregivers providing care for a cohabitating carepartner were recruited. Dyads underwent comprehensive baseline assessments consisting of in-person home-based interviews and iPad training (T1) followed by a week-long data collection of contemporaneous actigraphic sleep parameters and twice daily (morning and evening) indices of subjective sleep, activity, mood, behavior and sleep hygiene completed on the Tonic for Health Platform. Dyads were randomly assigned to an immediate intervention or wait-list control group. The immediate group received the intervention described below followed by post-intervention assessments (T2) identical to baseline. Wait-list participants then received the intervention followed by a final post-intervention assessment for the wait-list group only (T3).

Intervention.

Daily Videos: Video modules were delivered daily to the dyads' iPads during the 6-week intervention. All participants received core programming of sleep hygiene education, and guided instruction for daily physical activity enhancement "Move-Out!" and meditation/relaxation/self-care "Stand Down!" sessions individualized to functional ability levels. The baseline data allowed for subsequent compilation and programming of individualized, algorithmically derived, adaptive prescriptions for relevant video modules, sleep hygiene recommendations and cognitive behavioral strategies based upon the three independent streams of objective and subjective data for each dyad member. During the intervention dyads completed brief morning and evening diaries to assess compliance with the intervention and capture daily mood and sleep/sleep hygiene data.

Tele-Video-Conferences: Each dyad participated in two tele-video conferences with the PI. The first was to discuss evaluation results, obtain buy-in for the prescribed intervention and address dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep. The second call was a check-in, encouragement, reinforcement and coaching call. Dyads were re-assessed following the 6-week intervention.

Evaluations:

Standardized quantitative evaluations regarding the utility of the program were completed following the post-intervention assessments on the iPads. A sub-sample of dyads also participated in qualitative interviews.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Care recipient must be age 60 and over and require assistance from the identified caregiver with more than one Activity of Daily Living or three or more Instrumental Activities of Daily Living,
* have a life expectancy of greater than or equal to six (6) months,
* have no plans for transitioning out of home in the next six months,
* and have approval from the primary care provider to participate in the research.
* Caregivers must live with care recipient
* Caregivers must obtain a negative mini-cog assessment or negative TICS-m assessment. Caregivers can be any relation (spouse, child, sibling, friend, etc.) to the care recipient so long as the two are cohabitating.
* Caregiver can be any age.
* For Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the study, either the care recipient or the caregiver must have difficulty sleeping as indicated by scores on the Insomnia Severity Index.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Parkinson's with tremor or other movement disorder that would invalidate actigraphy
* Untreated diagnosis of sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome
* Inability to tolerate actigraphy
* CG and CR sleep efficiency \> 85% and/or both members of dyad report sleeping well
* Caregivers must have a negative screen with the Mini-Cog or the ModifiedTelephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-M) to demonstrate cognitive capacity to provide informed consent