Interventions for reducing levels of burden amongst informal carers of persons with dementia in the community. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Abstract

Objectives: Caregiver burden can lead to increased stress, depression and health difficulties for caregivers and care-recipients. This systematic review aimed to examine the published evidence, for interventions designed to reduce levels of carer burden, in those caring for a person with dementia.

Methods: Three databases were searched (Medline, PsycINFO and CINAHL) for studies reporting on randomised controlled trials of non-pharmacological interventions for dementia-related caregiver burden. Data quality checks were completed for included papers and meta-analysis was performed to estimate the efficacy of individual interventions and different categories of non-pharmacological intervention.

Results: Thirty studies were included in the analysis. Seven studies found a significant reduction in carer burden and a pooled effect found that intervening was more effective than treatment as usual (SMD = −0.18, CI = −0.30, −0.05). This result was small, but significant (p = 0.005). Multi-component interventions are more effective than other categories. High heterogeneity means that results should be interpreted with caution.

Conclusions: Interventions that significantly reduced levels of burden should be replicated on a larger scale. The relative effectiveness of interventions targeting cognitive appraisals and coping styles suggests that future interventions might be informed by models theorising the role of these processes in carer burden.

Keywords:

• Burden
• dementia
• carer
• intervention
• RCT

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.