Pilot Study of the Residential Care Transition Module to Support Australian Spouses of People with Dementia

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Spouses are at risk of poor psychosocial outcomes following placement of their partner with dementia into long-term care. The Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM) is a psychosocial intervention developed in the United States to support carers post-placement. This study aimed to test the RCTM delivered by telephone to Australian spousal carers.

Methods

A small-scale RCT [N = 21] was conducted to test feasibility of recruitment, retention, acceptability, and preliminary effects on measures of stress, grief, depression, guilt, quality-of-life, and satisfaction with care, compared to a group receiving printed information.

Results

The Transition Counselor and study participants considered the intervention delivery, dose, and content as acceptable. Retention was high (91%). At follow-up, significant time effects were found for stress, depression and “nursing home hassles.” A significant interaction effect was found for quality-of-life in favor of the comparison group. No effects were found for guilt or overall grief, however a promising result regarding the sub-scale of “acceptance of loss” was found in favor of the RCTM.

Conclusions

The delivery of the RCTM to Australian spousal carers was feasible and acceptable.

Clinical implications

The RCTM shows potential for improving support to spouses of people with dementia following long-term care placement.

KEYWORDS:

• Dementia
• long-term care
• spousal carers
• psychosocial intervention
• transition

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the spousal carers that took part in this study and Wendy Holdaway, who delivered the RCTM intervention. The authors would also like to thank Tamara Statz and Dr. Robyn Birkeland for their clinical expertise and guidance.

Dr. Gaugler was supported by grant R01 AG048931 from the National Institute on Aging.

Clinical implications

• Spouses of people with dementia can experience moderate to high levels of stress, grief, depression, and guilt following placement of their partner into long-term care and may need additional support to cope.

• The RCTM offers potential for improving such support to Australian spouses of people with dementia following long-term care placement, although larger scale trials are needed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Dementia Australia Research Foundation – Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration Consumer Priority PhD Scholarship awarded to Deborah Brooks.