Clinical trial NCT05205135: Feasibility Study of Project Carer Matters for Family Caregivers of Persons With Dementia
Official title: Feasibility Study of Project Carer Matters for Family Caregivers of People With Dementia Receiving Home-based Caregiving
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Conditions: Caregivers
Caregiver Burden
Caregiver Burnout
Dementia
Keywords: Feasibility studies
Caregiver
Nursing
Older person
Singapore
Lead sponsor: Tan Tock Seng Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Geriatric Education and Research Institute
First posted: 2022-01-24
Enrollment: 55
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 21
Maximum age (years): 99
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: OTHER
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: All eligible caregivers whose person with dementia are admitted into the pilot wards and receive the SHARE programme will be invited to participate

All eligible ward nurses and clinicians who work in pilot wards where SHARE is ongoing will be invited to participate.

All eligible care support nurses and programme facilitators will be invited to participate, as they are all involved in SHARE.

Eligible hospital leaders and community leaders who have worked with the SHARE programme will be invited to participate.

Brief summary: The study uses the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework to assess the Carer Matters programme for dementia caregivers in Singapore. A parallel mixed-methods study design is applied to assess the programme's feasibility and effectiveness.

Detailed description: A mixed-methods study to (1) Evaluate the feasibility of Carer Matters for caregivers of PwD and to (2) Explore perspectives of key stakeholders who are directly or indirectly involved with Carer Matters, to better understand the potential sustainability of this framework.

The objectives of are as follows:

1. To explore the perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of family caregivers, healthcare workers and community partners towards Carer Matters.
2. To explore the barriers and facilitators of acceptance and implementation of Carer Matters.
3. To gain insights into the perceived demand of Carer Matters.
4. To gain insights into the family caregivers' preliminary responses to and outcomes from Carer Matters.

The study will involve six inpatient wards of a 1,700-bedded tertiary care hospital which are piloting Carer Matters. These wards comprise of four acute wards and two sub-acute wards. They are selected as they admit a comparatively greater number of patients with dementia than other wards in the hospital. The study will be conducted over 12 months.

Quantitative data is based off programme data collected from all caregivers who undergo Carer Matters. Hence, it will consist of all dementia caregivers whose care recipient is admitted into the pilot wards and agree to participate in Carer Matters.

Qualitative data is based off interviews of key stakeholders of the different components of the Carer Matters programme. The key stakeholders comprises: (1) Family caregivers of PwD (n = 25 to 30), (2) Ward nurses (n= 8 to 10), (3) Care support nurses (n = 2 to 3), (4) Intervention programmes facilitators and standardized patients (n = 3), (5) Community partners and hospital leaders (n = 4), and (6) Other clinicians - medical social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and doctors (n = 4 to 5).

Both qualitative and quantitative data will be triangulated using the RE-AIM framework address the research objectives of the study. These insights will then be used to generate an updated Theory of Change model explaining how SHARE improves caregiver capacity for sustained caregiving. This final model will reflect the processes and mechanisms of Carer Matters that contribute towards the short, medium and long-term outcomes intended, and can serve as a guide for future researchers and practitioners.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* For family caregivers: (1) Above 21 years of age, (2) The main family caregiver of the PwD receiving home-based care, (3) Able to converse in English language, and (4) Willing to have their interviews audio-recorded.
* For ward nurses: (1) Above 21 years of age, (2) Working as a nurse at one of the inpatient wards piloting SHARE, (3) Referred family caregivers to complete the brief screening tool, and (4) Willing to have their interviews audio-recorded.
* For care support nurses: (1) Above 21 years of age, (2) Involved in either providing direct or indirect patient care to a PwD and their caregiver through SHARE, and (3) Willing to have their interviews audio-recorded.
* For community leaders and hospital leaders: (1) Above 21 years of age, (2) Key decision makers or in leadership positions within the hospital or Working in institutions where there are ongoing or potentially future partnerships with TTSH to provide care services , and (3) Willing to have their interviews audio-recorded.
* For other clinicians: (1) Above 21 years of age, (2) Working as a clinicians at one of the inpatient wards piloting SHARE, (3) Referred family caregivers to complete the brief screening tool, and (4) Willing to have their interviews audio-recorded.

Exclusion Criteria: any potential participant who refuses to have their interviews recorded

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Primary outcomes:
measure: Number of participants recruited into programme
timeFrame: Data will be collected over one year, the duration of the first year of the intervention.
measure: Self-reported anxiety scores of CARERS programme participants
timeFrame: Data will be collected over one year, the duration of the first year of the intervention.
measure: Self-reported depression scores of CARERS programme participants
timeFrame: Data will be collected over one year, the duration of the first year of the intervention.
measure: Self-reported dementia knowledge scores of dementia programme participants
timeFrame: Data will be collected over one year, the duration of the first year of the intervention.
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Singapore
country: Singapore
facility: Tan Tock Seng Hospital
Study officials:
affiliation: Tan Tock Seng Hospital
name: Ee Yuee Chan, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Chan EY, Wu LT, Ng EJY, Glass GF Jr, Tan RHT. Applying the RE-AIM framework to evaluate a holistic caregiver-centric hospital-to-home programme: a feasibility study on Carer Matters. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Jul 19;22(1):933. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08317-3.