Case Manager Approach in Dementia Care From a Caregiver Perspective

This is a qualitative study to explore opinions of family caregivers of community-dwelling people with dementia on case manager approach in dementia care. Semi-structured interviews will be used for data collection. Purposive sampling was used to recruit caregivers from Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing. Grounded Theory would be used for data analysis.

This was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with caregivers of community-dwelling people with dementia. Purposive sampling was used to recruit caregivers from Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing.

Study protocol would be explained by principal investigator (PI) to case managers in JCCPA, including aim and objectives of the study, inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria and interview questions.

Due to privacy issues, case managers in JCCPA would screen family caregivers and ask for consent to participate in the study. Contact method of caregivers would be provided to PI by JCCPA case managers upon caregivers' consent. PI would then approach caregivers to arrange online meetings and send the online consent form to them for their consideration and reference. Risks and benefits of the study and the right to withdraw from the study at any time would be explained to participants before consent form was signed by participants digitally.

Demographic data such as age, gender, education level, years of caregiving to PWD and time spent on caregiving would be collected using Google form.

All interviews were conducted through video-conferencing individually. Each interview took 30 to 45 minutes. The interviews were started with an close-ended question, such as "Do you know the special approach that JCCPA has adopted?" and "Did the staff tell you about it at admission?", followed up by open-ended questions such as "What do you know about case management?" and "Can you tell me how your caregiving experience was with case manager support?". Subsequent probing questions aimed at clarification and gaining more insight on their experience, was guided by the participant's responses.

Demographic data such as age, gender, education level, years of caregiving to PWD and time spent on caregiving would be collected using Google form.

All interviews were conducted through video-conferencing individually. Each interview took 30 to 45 minutes. The interviews were started with an close-ended question, such as "Do you know the special approach that JCCPA has adopted?" and "Did the staff tell you about it at admission?", followed up by open-ended questions such as "What do you know about case management?" and "Can you tell me how your caregiving experience was with case manager support?". Subsequent probing questions aimed at clarification and gaining more insight on their experience, was guided by the participant's responses. Video-conferencing software such as Zoom, Google Meet, or facetime would be used for online interview. Interview would be conducted in JCCPA to ensure privacy of the participants.

All interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcript were validated by re-listening to the tapes.

Constant comparative analysis was used for coding and category development. Incidents were identified in the data and coded. Initially, codes were identified as much as possible. Codes were compared to others codes. Codes were then collapsed into categories. In this process, incidents in a category were compared with previous incidents. New data was compared with data obtained earlier during the analysis phases. In intermediate coding, basic data was transformed into more abstract concepts allowing the theory to emerge from the data. Then, advanced coding was done to facilitate integration of the final grounded theory.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* care recipients having clinical diagnosis of dementia of any stage
* participants being the family caregivers of care recipients, providing care for at least 10 hours per week
* caregivers receiving case manager support for at least 3 months

Exclusion Criteria:

* caregivers who were under age of 18 and those exhibiting intellectual impairment
* caregivers who were not immediate family members of care recipients
* caregivers who could not communicate in Cantonese or English