Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology and Alzheimer Centre Limburg, School for Mental Health and Neurosciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Department of Neurosciences, Center for Contextual Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Aging Ment Health. 2020 Dec;24(12):2082-2093. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2019.1647130. Epub 2019 Aug 1.
Caring for a person with dementia can be challenging over the years. To support family carers throughout their entire caregiving career, interventions with a sustained effectivity are needed. A novel 6-week mobile health (mHealth) intervention using the experience sampling method (ESM) showed positive effects on carers' well-being over a period of 2 months after the intervention. In this study, the effects after 6 months of the selfsame intervention were examined to evaluate the sustainability of positive intervention effects.
The 6-week mHealth intervention consisted of an experimental group (ESM self-monitoring and personalized feedback), a pseudo-experimental group (ESM self-monitoring without feedback), and a control group (providing regular care without ESM self-monitoring or feedback). Carers' sense of competence, mastery, and psychological complaints (depression, anxiety and perceived stress) were evaluated pre- and post-intervention as well as at two follow-up time points. The present study focuses on the 6-month follow-up data ( = 50).
Positive intervention effects on sense of competence, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms were not sustained over 6-month follow-up.
The benefits of this mHealth intervention for carers of people living with dementia were not sustained over a long time. Similarly, other psychosocial interventions for carers of people with dementia rarely reported long-lasting effects. In order to sustainably contribute to carers' well-being, researchers and clinicians should continuously ensure flexible adjustment of the intervention and consider additional features such as ad-hoc counseling options and booster sessions. In this regard, mHealth interventions can offer ideally suited and unique opportunities.
照顾患有痴呆症的人多年来可能是具有挑战性的。为了在整个护理生涯中为家庭照顾者提供支持，需要干预措施来维持效果。一种新颖的使用经验采样方法（ESM）的 6 周移动健康（mHealth）干预措施，在干预后 2 个月内对照顾者的幸福感产生了积极影响。在这项研究中，检查了相同干预措施 6 个月后的效果，以评估积极干预效果的可持续性。
6 周的 mHealth 干预措施包括实验组（ESM 自我监测和个性化反馈）、假实验组（ESM 自我监测而没有反馈）和对照组（提供常规护理，而不进行 ESM 自我监测或反馈）。在干预前后以及两个随访时间点评估照顾者的能力感、掌握感和心理投诉（抑郁、焦虑和感知压力）。本研究重点关注 6 个月随访数据（n=50）。
在 6 个月的随访中，对能力感、感知压力和抑郁症状的积极干预效果并未持续。
这种针对痴呆症患者照顾者的 mHealth 干预措施的益处并未在长时间内持续。同样，针对痴呆症患者照顾者的其他心理社会干预措施很少报告持久的效果。为了可持续地促进照顾者的幸福感，研究人员和临床医生应不断确保干预措施的灵活调整，并考虑其他功能，如临时咨询选项和强化课程。在这方面，mHealth 干预措施可以提供理想的、独特的机会。
