Psychosocial interventions for caregivers of individuals with dementia: a scoping review.

Abstract

Dementia caregivers face increased risk for decreased health, physically, psychologically, and socially. Yet, informal caregivers globally provide the majority of care for people with dementia. While individualised interventions for caregivers have shown positive results, their implementation has been limited. This brings to question what are the content and nature of interventions and also possible barriers that prevent their use. It is therefore important to explore the literature surrounding this topic to determine what evidence there is for current psychosocial interventions for caregivers of individuals living with dementia. A comprehensive search of available literature on psychosocial interventions for dementia carers was conducted through Ebscohost, Google Scholar, Lancet, PubMed, and Wiley Online. A total of nineteen published articles were reviewed and analysed. Eighteen studies (94.7%) were based in high-income countries. Most studies utilised a quantitative methodology (n = 13; 68%) while the others utilised a qualitative (n = 3; 16%) or a mixed-methods approach (n = 3; 16%). Of the interventions utilised, 15 of the 19 studies (79%) incorporated the intervention into a known intervention while four developed a new intervention (21%). The thematic analysis of the data showed themes across the different approaches utilised by the interventions that include psychoeducation, therapeutic, and support. Caregiver burden and depression were the most predominant recorded outcomes across the 19 studies, with other health related aspects also measured, i.e. quality of life, distress, anxiety, self-efficacy, caregiver reaction to problem behaviour, utilisation of resources, and well-being. Caregiver burden was included as an outcome measure in 10 studies (53%), while depression was included as a target intervention measure in nine of the studies (47%). Current research on psychosocial interventions has shown a consistency in content focus. Most studies were conducted in high income countries, were quantitative, used known interventions, included informal caregivers, were professionally administered, and in-person. Comparing psychoeducational and therapeutic interventions, psychoeducational approaches seemed to demonstrate more improvements in outcomes of caregiver burden and depression.