Telephone-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Caregivers of Persons with Dementia: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Anne Katrin Risch*, Franziska Lechner-Meichsner, Gabriele Wilz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Objectives: Family caregivers of persons with dementia (PwD) experience high levels of distress. We used a randomized-controlled trial to investigate the effects of telephone-based acceptance and commitment therapy (tbACT) for family caregivers. Methods: Caregivers were randomly allocated to an intervention group (tbACT, n = 41) or an untreated control group (CG, n = 40). The intervention consisted of eight weekly sessions of tbACT. Depression and anxiety (primary outcomes), physical symptoms, pre-death grief, care-related thoughts, acceptance (secondary outcomes), quality of life, coping and well-being (well-being/coping outcomes) were assessed pre- and post-assessment. A 6-month follow-up was conducted. Results: Compared to CG participants, tbACT participants had at post-assessment significantly lower depressive symptoms; fewer physical symptoms (rheumatic pain); better physical health; more resource utilization (coping with daily hassles, social support); better coping with the care situation and better emotional well-being. During the six-month follow-up, tbACT participants showed less pre-death grief, fewer physical symptoms, and more utilization of resources related to coping with daily hassles. Conclusions: tbACT is a feasible and promising psychotherapeutic intervention for family caregivers of PwD. Because of small sample size our results are preliminary. Clinical Implications: Most of the effects of tbACT were not maintained 6 months after the intervention, suggesting that booster sessions may be helpful.

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages19
JournalClinical Gerontologist
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 21 Aug 2024

Keywords

  • Dementia
  • family caregivers
  • mental health
  • telephone-based intervention

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