Chinese Caregiver Assistance Project 1 & 2
CCAP 1: Comparative Efficacy of Interventions to Reduce Distress in Chinese and Caucasian Dementia Caregivers:
Funded by the national office of the Alzheimer’s Association from 2001 to 2004. This study built upon our prior work, specifically, the project in which we developed a new measure for early detection of dementia among the Chinese. The purpose of the new study was to evaluate different theoretically-based treatments for distress in Chinese and Anglo/Caucasian caregivers, and to determine if treatment impacts both physiological and psychological variables. A total of 55 Chinese women caregivers were enrolled and 40 non-Chinese women caregivers.
Measures were taken of Cortisol, sleep disturbance, and blood pressure (as well as various psychological measures of stress) before and after intervention, with the major hypothesis being that the behaviorally-based intervention would be superior for improving these measures compared to the control condition. Results indicated that this was in fact the case: substantial reduction in symptoms of depression and caregiving-related stress occurred from pre to post intervention in both ethnic groups.
What is most noteworthy about this study is that it is the first empirical study of a theoretically-grounded intervention with Chinese families caring for a demented relative in the United States.
CCAP 2: Skill Building in Chinese Dementia Caregivers:
Funded by the national office of the Alzheimer’s Association from 2005 to 2007. This study builds on our prior work with Chinese caregivers; its purpose was to select the most relevant skills for caregiver stress reduction that could be illustrated in a DVD format. A 6-module DVD was developed, with an accompanying workbook to further explain content. A total of 100 inquiries were made and 70 caregivers enrolled. Final results indicate that this project was successful in reducing caregiver burden and stress. The Skills-Training DVD was also rated more highly than the control DVD for helpfulness of content and its applicability to maintaining the demented care recipient at home. This pilot study is promising and suggests that a media-based intervention has the potential to help much larger numbers of caregivers than is the case in the usual clinical trial.
Copies are available from the Stanford Geriatric Education Center and the Alzheimer’s Association. Please contact us for more information.
Principal Investigator: Dolores Gallagher-Thompson.
Relevant Publications:
1. Gallagher-Thompson, D., Rabinowitz, Y., Tang, P.Y., Tse, C., Kwo, E., Hsu, S., Wang, PC., Leung, L., Tong, H-Q., & Thompson, L.W. (2006). Recruiting Chinese Americans for dementia caregiver intervention research: Suggestions for success. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 14, 676-683.
2. Gallagher-Thompson, D., Gray, H., Tang, P., Pu, C-Y., Tse, C., Hsu, S., Leung, L., Wang, P., Kwo, E., Tong, H-Q., Long, J. & Thompson, L.W. (2007). Impact of in-home intervention versus telephone support in reducing depression and stress of Chinese caregivers: Results of a pilot study. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15, 425-434.
3. Liu, W., Wang, P-C, Gray, H., Tang, P. C. Y., Kwo, E. & Gallagher-Thompson, D. (2008). Client satisfaction with a stress reduction program for Chinese dementia caregivers. Hallym International Journal of Aging, 10(2), 91-110.