The Development and Evaluation of a Culturally Tailored Support Group Program on the Psychosocial Wellbeing of Family Caregivers of Individuals Living With Dementia in Hong Kong

NCT ID: NCT04334200

Last Updated: 2020-04-06

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: UNKNOWN
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 49 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2020-07-01
• Study Completion Date: 2020-12-31

Brief Summary

Hong Kong is also facing the increasing prevalence of dementia. Evidence states that dementia caregivers have poor psychosocial wellbeing including stress, depression and anxiety. Effective services and interventions should be provided to the caregivers to improve their psychosocial wellbeing. Recent studies suggest that cultural adapted intervention is necessary. Such intervention can support caregivers to improve psychosocial wellbeing by using the culture and rituals to relevant racial caregivers creatively. Among all interventions for dementia caregivers, it was reported that the support group/program was more effective to improve psychosocial well-being of dementia caregivers. However, the studies about support group for dementia caregivers did not report the cultural sensitivity elements explicitly. Most of them mention the component 'language' only. Other elements, including philosophical thoughts, had not been mentioned in the articles. It is necessary to provide more cultural components including philosophical thoughts in the support groups. Moreover, the studies did not report on the benefits of adding cultural elements in the interventions to dementia caregivers. Although the literature mentioned cultural adapted interventions were beneficial, the research on understanding its benefits is inadequate. More caregiver intervention studies to understand the advantages of cultural tailoring are needed. Hence, we need to do more studies to understand the benefits of adding cultural elements in the interventions to caregivers. A research is performed to develop and evaluate a culturally adapted intervention for dementia caregivers to improve their psychosocial wellbeing.

This research study is to evaluate the effectiveness and benefits of culturally tailored interventions for caregivers of older adults with dementia on improving psychosocial well-being. Mixed method and quasi-experimental design will be applied. There are 2 groups: intervention and control groups. Each group needs to complete pre and post-test to assess their psychosocial well-beings. The pre and post-test data will be used for assessing the effectiveness of the culturally tailored intervention program for the dementia caregivers. For intervention group, qualitative data, i.e. data from focus group interview will be performed to assess the benefits of inclusion of cultural elements in the program.

Detailed Description

A quasi-experimental study will be performed to assess the effectiveness and benefits of a culturally tailored support group programs for Chinese dementia caregivers. The PhD candidate will contact three non-governmental organizations (NGO), including Rotary Club that provides dementia services to dementia persons or their caregivers in the elderly centres. The caregivers will be recruited as participants through these centres.

A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent pre-test-post-test control group design will be used to determine the effectiveness of a culturally tailored support group program. A non-equivalent control group design was used because caregivers from the same centre would have known each other. If caregivers in each elderly centre were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, there may have been a chance that caregivers in the experimental group would discuss the intervention with caregivers in the control group. Also, the caregivers in the control group may think it was unfair that they do not have a chance to have the culturally tailored support group programs. Hence, a quasi-experimental design will be implemented and the experimental and control groups will be from different elderly centres.

The participants should be the family members who care for a relative with dementia at home. The eligibility criteria include:

1. Chinese;

2. aged > 18 years;

3. the ability to communicate in Chinese / Cantonese; and

4. voluntary participation. The exclusion criteria include those currently suffering from a psychiatric illness with/without regular follow-up or treatment.

Conditions

Dementia

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Cultivate yourself: support for caregivers of dementia persons

There will be six sessions (1 or 2 session per week). The duration of each session will be 1.5-2 hours per session. The contents include: introduction on dementia, caregivers' role, how to communicate with dementia persons, tips on caregiving, stress and emotional management. The training content has been verified by one social worker, family caregivers of individuals living with dementia and a teacher who teach Chinese, Chinese history and culture in the secondary school in Hong Kong. No adverse comments are received from them.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Cultivate yourself: support for caregivers of dementia persons

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The Chinese cultural values, including philosophical thoughts, will be included in the intervention. Chinese philosophical thoughts including the concepts of moderation, improving oneself, and harmony with nature will be used in the intervention. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are the foundation for Chinese for concepts of health and illness, health promotion, and health-seeking behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate such philosophies in the sessions of the program.

Interventions

Cultivate yourself: support for caregivers of dementia persons

The Chinese cultural values, including philosophical thoughts, will be included in the intervention. Chinese philosophical thoughts including the concepts of moderation, improving oneself, and harmony with nature will be used in the intervention. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are the foundation for Chinese for concepts of health and illness, health promotion, and health-seeking behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate such philosophies in the sessions of the program.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• The participants should be the family members who care for a relative with dementia at home. The eligibility criteria include:

1. Chinese;

2. aged > 18 years;

3. the ability to communicate in Chinese / Cantonese; and

4. voluntary participation.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Chinese University of Hong Kong

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Yiu Hing Cheung

PhD student (Nursing)

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Other Identifiers

2019.565

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id