Clinical trial NCT02563483: Yoga for Family Caregivers of Alzheimers Disease Patient
Official title: A Yoga and Compassion Meditation Program Improve Quality of Life and Self-compassion in Family Caregivers of Alzheimer's Disease Patients: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stress
Anxiety
Compassion
Keywords: caregivers
anxiety
depression
yoga
meditation
stress
Lead sponsor: Federal University of São Paulo
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2015-09-30
Enrollment: 46
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: This study evaluates the effects of the practice of yoga in combination with compassion meditation on the quality of life, attention, vitality and self-compassion of family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Detailed description: Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain disorder that involves the loss of reasoning, memory, language and the ability to live independently. Thus, patients who suffer from this disease often require care from another person and must adapt to ensure their health, functional capacity and safety. Caregivers have a poor quality of life due to the physical and psychological burden of caregiving. Such physical, psychological, social and financial burden can increase the risk of death. Within this scenario, techniques such as yoga and meditation have emerged as low-cost interventions that offer little or no risk to the practitioners. Yoga seeks to develop health and attention through physical postures, breathing exercises and formal meditative practices.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* be a family caregiver of Alzheimer disease patient
* age over 18 years
* completed at least the primary education level
* at least at the phase of stress resistance according to Lipp's Inventory of Stress Symptoms for adults

Exclusion Criteria:

* patient with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
* alcohol use (more than 5 drinks per week) or use of drugs-of-abuse;
* suffer from Cushing's syndrome
* under treatment with topical, nasal or any form of steroids within the last 30 days
* practice yoga, meditation or similar techniques

Primary outcomes:
measure: change in cortisol
timeFrame: baseline, 8 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: change in stress
timeFrame: baseline, 8 weeks
measure: change in depression
timeFrame: baseline, 8 weeks
measure: change in anxiety
timeFrame: baseline, 8 weeks
measure: change in quality of life
timeFrame: baseline, 8 weeks
measure: change in vitality
timeFrame: baseline, 8 weeks
measure: change in attention
timeFrame: baseline, 8 weeks
measure: change in self-compassion
timeFrame: baseline, 8 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
References:
citation: Danucalov MA, Kozasa EH, Ribas KT, Galduroz JC, Garcia MC, Verreschi IT, Oliveira KC, Romani de Oliveira L, Leite JR. A yoga and compassion meditation program reduces stress in familial caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:513149. doi: 10.1155/2013/513149. Epub 2013 Apr 18.