Utilizing Senior Companions to Enhance Dementia Care

Study Results

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

44 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2019-04-29

Study Completion Date

2020-08-31

Brief Summary

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The inability of healthcare systems to effectively manage Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) often results in families remaining unaware of important community-based, long-term services and supports (LTSS) that could help to mitigate the negative effects of cognitive impairment. This project will feature a collaboration between Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota to evaluate a novel adaption of the volunteer Senior Companion Program (SCP) to: a) assist families better manage ADRD at home; b) identify and facilitate the use of LTSS; and c) improve engagement with primary care providers throughout the state of Minnesota. If successful, the PorchLight Project will offer a potentially efficient, wide-ranging service model for states and communities to implement for persons with ADRD and their caregiving families.

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Detailed Description

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This project will evaluate a novel adaption of the Senior Companion Program (SCP) administered by Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota to assist families better manage their relatives' Alzheimer's disease or related dementias (ADRDs); identify and facilitate use of community-based long-term services and supports (LTSS); and improve engagement with healthcare providers. This intervention, called the PorchLight Project has the following aims:

Specific Aim 1. Implement PorchLight Project for 25 persons with ADRD or memory concerns (collectively, persons with memory loss \[PWML\]) and/or their caregivers in one urban and rural region of Minnesota. A convergent parallel mixed methods design \[(QUAN+QUAL)--\>QUAL\] will be utilized to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and utility of PorchLight Project for 25 families and their SC-Ds (n = 20) over a 3-month period (i.e., Stage I of the NIH Stage Model).

Specific Aim 2. Refine PorchLight Project delivery and implementation for efficacy evaluation. Activities to support this aim will include assessment of R61 milestones and incorporation of R61 findings to refine the PorchLight Project prior to efficacy evaluation. Through stakeholder engagement with the Dementia Healthcare Research Advisory Group (DHR) as well as analysis of the various quantitative and qualitative data elements collected during this Phase, we will finalize and refine effective training approaches for PorchLight Project Senior Companions (SCs), identify and confirm stakeholder-centric measures, and enhance the overall implementation of the PorchLight Project to inform a subsequent R33 Phase.

Conditions

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Alzheimer Disease Dementia

Study Design

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Allocation Method

NA

Intervention Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Enrollment: Number of participants: 44 (33 senior volunteers; 7 clients (PWML); 4 caregivers)

Primary Study Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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PorchLight Project Intervention Group

Participants in the intervention group will receive home-based support and respite services from PorchLight Project trained Senior Companion volunteers of the Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

PorchLight Project

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Senior Companions (or other LSS-MN volunteers providing senior companionship services) who deliver the PorchLight Project will complete online CARES® Dementia Care Specialist training modules, additional trainings delivered by the research team (1. overview of the PorchLight Project, 2. review of the National Consensus Guidelines on Palliative Care, 3. review of the list of guided questions, and 4. review of journaling approach and LTSS resources), and participate in unstructured monthly check-ins (discussions and case review as applicable) with the research team.

Interventions

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PorchLight Project

Senior Companions (or other LSS-MN volunteers providing senior companionship services) who deliver the PorchLight Project will complete online CARES® Dementia Care Specialist training modules, additional trainings delivered by the research team (1. overview of the PorchLight Project, 2. review of the National Consensus Guidelines on Palliative Care, 3. review of the list of guided questions, and 4. review of journaling approach and LTSS resources), and participate in unstructured monthly check-ins (discussions and case review as applicable) with the research team.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Exclusion Criteria

A PWML or caregiver will be ineligible if they have a diagnosis of a serious psychiatric illness, their symptoms have worsened in the last 6 months, and they don't receive steady, ongoing treatment for those symptoms.

Minimum Eligible Age

21 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes