Increases in utilization of psychosocial resources mediate effects of cognitive-behavioural intervention on dementia caregivers’ quality of life

ABSTRACT

In this study, we advance dementia caregiver intervention research by drawing on the tenets of positive psychology. We investigate the mediating mechanisms of a cognitive-behavioural intervention incorporating resource activation as a superordinate, strength-based heuristic on dementia caregivers’ quality of life (QoL). QoL captures the full spectrum of human functioning (i.e. not just the absence of suffering). We examine the utilization of resources related to well-being (i.e. enhancing positive experiences) and coping with daily hassles (i.e. reducing negative experiences) as two distinct potential mechanisms. Two hundred and seventy-three dementia caregivers were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 139) or control group (n = 134). Multiple mediation analyses indicated that utilization of resources related to well-being and coping mediated the effects of the intervention on caregivers’ psychological, physical and overall QoL & health at post-test and 6-month follow-up. (Re-)activating resources from both domains appears to be more effective than focusing on just one domain.

KEYWORDS:

• Dementia
• caregivers
• intervention
• cognitive-behavioral therapy
• resource activation
• quality of life
• health
• change mechanism
• mediation

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr Catherine E. Bowen for editing the manuscript. We gratefully acknowledge Dr Franziska Meichsner for providing constructive comments on earlier versions of this manuscript and Prof. Dr Renate Soellner, Maren Reder, and Anna Machmer at our cooperating institution, the University of Hildesheim, for their contributions to the RCT on which the current study is based. We also wish to thank the therapists who delivered the Tele.TAnDem intervention and the family caregivers who participated in the study.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, NFT, upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Health [grant number IIA5-2512FSB555]. The funding source was neither involved in study design nor in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data.