Supporting Caregivers of PWD and Identifying an Effective Intervention to Reduce Their Depressive Symptoms

NCT ID: NCT05634317

Last Updated: 2022-12-02

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

UNKNOWN

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

136 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2022-10-01

Study Completion Date

2025-09-01

Brief Summary

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Effective clinical management of chronic conditions like depressive symptoms of caregivers actually requires a sequence of interventions, each adapts to responses to prior interventions, and hence multiple intervention decisions throughout the whole careers of dementia caregivers. The main objective of this study is to build the capacity in the community to support the family caregivers of PWD and identify a 2-stage adaptive intervention involving behavioral activation and mindfulness practice to reduce their depressive symptoms using SMART design. A random sample of 272 family caregivers of PWD who meet the clinical criteria of subthreshold depression will be recruited. Participants will be assessed at T1 (baseline assessment); T2 (immediately after the first stage intervention); T3 (immediately after the 2nd stage intervention); T4 (3 months after the 2nd stage intervention); T5 (6 months after the 2nd stage intervention) with various health-related outcomes. The findings will inform us whether the SMART is efficient in identifying an effective adaptive intervention for reducing depressive symptoms. More importantly, will also show us how to alleviate the negative impact of caregiving in the family caregivers.

Detailed Description

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Aims The main objective of this study is to build the capacity in the community to support the family caregivers of PWD and identify a 2-stage adaptive intervention involving behavioral activation and mindfulness practice to reduce their depressive symptoms using SMART design. Using a sequential multiple randomized trial (SMART), we aim to investigate whether (1) the smartphone-delivered behavioral activation (SD-BA) or smartphone-delivered mindfulness practice (SD- MP) is more effective for reducing depressive symptoms as the first-stage intervention; (2) evaluate whether extending the original first stage intervention with an additional self-efficacy enhancing component or switching to an alternative intervention is more effective in reducing depressive symptoms when participants are not responding to the first stage intervention; (3) evaluate the sequence of the intervention, SD-BA followed by SD-MP or SD-MP followed by SD-BA is more effective in reducing depressive symptoms; and 4) identify which of our four embedded adaptive interventions (SD- BA with booster for responders and (SD-BA for nonresponses; SD-BA with booster for responders and SD-MP for no responders; SD-MY with booster for responders and SD-MP for non-responders; SD-MP with booster for responders and SD-BA for non-responders) is the most effective for reducing depressive symptoms.

Methods A random sample of 272 family caregivers of PWD who meet the clinical criteria of subthreshold depression will be recruited. Participants will be assessed at T1 (baseline assessment); T2 (immediately after the first stage intervention); T3 (immediately after the 2nd stage intervention); T4 (3 months after the 2nd stage intervention); T5 (6 months after the 2nd stage intervention) with various health-related outcomes.

Significance and value The findings will not only inform us whether the SMART is an efficient approach for identifying an effective adaptive intervention for reducing depressive symptoms, but , more importantly will also show us how to alleviate the negative impact of caregiving in the family caregivers.

Conditions

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Dementia

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

SEQUENTIAL

Primary Study Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Caregivers

Study Groups

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Behavioral activation

The SD-BA, consisting of 16 sessions (30 minutes each) twice a week over 8 weeks, will be delivered by the trained instructor through a videoconference mobile app. Participants will be asked to review their daily activity patterns and then choose activity goals and review their successes and areas of improvement. They will also be taught how to fill out the daily monitoring record, which will involve noting down their activities on the day of the session for each hour before the session, and rating the importance and degree of enjoyment associated with each activity.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Smartphone delivered Behavioral activation

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Outline:

Session 0 45-minute psychoeducation on caregiving and depression

Session 1 Review the present use of time and use the monitoring form

Session 2 Brain-storm pleasant events and schedule pleasant activities

Session 3 Review scheduling of events and discuss how to improve

Session 4 Review modifications and consolidate gains on scheduling

Session 5 Review present social support and explore new sources of support

Session 6 Examine communication skills and explore new options

Session 7 Review new communications and discuss how to improve

Session 8 Review modification and consolidate gains on support

Mindfulness

A mindfulness instructor will deliver the program through a videoconference mobile app, and include various mindfulness practices (e.g., mindful walking, body scanning) and sharing. To standardize the interventions in this study, the previous approach will be changed from 7 weekly 120-minute sessions to 16 sessions (30 minutes each) twice a week over 8 weeks. The participants will also be encouraged to perform 30 minutes of mindfulness practice every day. All participants will be given an audio (mp3) recording of guided mindfulness activities to enhance their daily practice, and a logbook via a mobile app or in hardcopy (according to their preference) to record the frequency of their self-practice at home and monitor their compliance rate. Our volunteers will provide support via smartphone to answer questions and address difficulties.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Smartphone delivered Mindfulness

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Outline:

Session 0 45-minute psychoeducation on caregiving and depression

Session 1 The Raisin exercise (eating meditation) and12-min body scan

Session 2 Exercises on thoughts and feelings 12-min body scan

Session 3 Exercises focusing on unpleasant experiences, practicing seeing and hearing , sitting meditation, 3-min breathing space, and mindful stretching and breath meditation

Session 4 Practicing seeing and hearing, mindful communication, 3-min breathing space, and sitting meditation

Session 5 Mindful walking, 3-min breathing space, and sitting meditation

Session 6 Sitting meditation, exercises on thoughts and alternative viewpoints, and 3-min breathing space (responsive)

Session 7 Sitting meditation, activity and mood exercise, identifying habitual emotional reactions to difficulties, and 3-min breathing space (responsive)

Session 8 12-min body scan, exercise on looking forward, and exercise on preparing for the future

Interventions

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Smartphone delivered Behavioral activation

Outline:

Session 0 45-minute psychoeducation on caregiving and depression

Session 1 Review the present use of time and use the monitoring form

Session 2 Brain-storm pleasant events and schedule pleasant activities

Session 3 Review scheduling of events and discuss how to improve

Session 4 Review modifications and consolidate gains on scheduling

Session 5 Review present social support and explore new sources of support

Session 6 Examine communication skills and explore new options

Session 7 Review new communications and discuss how to improve

Session 8 Review modification and consolidate gains on support

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Smartphone delivered Mindfulness

Outline:

Session 0 45-minute psychoeducation on caregiving and depression

Session 1 The Raisin exercise (eating meditation) and12-min body scan

Session 2 Exercises on thoughts and feelings 12-min body scan

Session 3 Exercises focusing on unpleasant experiences, practicing seeing and hearing , sitting meditation, 3-min breathing space, and mindful stretching and breath meditation

Session 4 Practicing seeing and hearing, mindful communication, 3-min breathing space, and sitting meditation

Session 5 Mindful walking, 3-min breathing space, and sitting meditation

Session 6 Sitting meditation, exercises on thoughts and alternative viewpoints, and 3-min breathing space (responsive)

Session 7 Sitting meditation, activity and mood exercise, identifying habitual emotional reactions to difficulties, and 3-min breathing space (responsive)

Session 8 12-min body scan, exercise on looking forward, and exercise on preparing for the future

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. aged 18 or above
2. FC of an individual with a confirmed medical diagnosis of any type of dementia who has been residing in the community;
3. having been providing care for at least 3 months prior to recruitment
4. the presence of mild-to- moderate depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score 5 to 14).

Exclusion Criteria

1. having participated in any structured mind-body intervention, cognitive therapy, or structured psychosocial intervention 6 months prior to recruitment
2. having acute psychiatric and medical comorbidities that are potentially life- threatening or would limit the caregivers' participation or adherence (e.g., suicidal ideation, acute psychosis).
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Patrick KOR Pui Kin

Assistant Professor, School of nursing

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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The Hong Kong Polytechnic Univeristy

Hong Kong, , Hong Kong

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Hong Kong

Central Contacts

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Patrick Kor

Role: CONTACT

2766 5622

Facility Contacts

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Patrick Kor

Role: primary

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Other Identifiers

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TBC

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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