Self-Directed Online Training Program for Multicultural Dementia Caregivers

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The growing prevalence of dementia, the health and mental health consequences for family caregivers, the lack of ethno-cultural and linguistic training programs for ethnic minority family caregivers, and the increasing penetration of the internet in ethnic minority communities underscore the need for an online training program for ethnic minority dementia caregivers. In response to the National Institute on Aging PA-06-049, we propose to develop and test the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an online self-directed, skill training intervention for Chinese and Hispanic adults providing care to individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. The overall goal of this project is to use internet-based technology to develop a self-directed training intervention that is designed to enhance caregiver management skills to improve self-efficacy, which we hypothesize will lead to reduced caregiver burden and emotional distress; and increase caregiver self-care skills, which we hypothesize will result in enhanced overall health and quality of life. Specifically, Phase I will develop a prototype for two internet-based SDL training programs, one for Chinese caregivers, and the other for Hispanic caregivers, to improve caregiving management skills and self care skills. An iterative formative evaluation will be performed to inform the process of designing the intervention components in order to ensure the usability, content validity, motivational design, and ethno-cultural and linguistic competency of the intervention. A randomized controlled trial will be conducted to assess preliminary effectiveness of the training intervention with regard to its impact on both caregivers and care recipients. The findings of this Phase I application will be used to develop a Phase II SBIR, in which we will conduct a large-scale randomized trial of the full scale SDL intervention. Phase 1 study results will provide the effect size necessary to determine the sample size needed for the Phase 2 application. Evidence of the effectiveness of the SDL training program will be a valuable contribution to the developing evidence-base of online caregiver training programs for ethnic minority caregivers. Successful accomplishment of the Phase II application will result in an innovative, online caregiver training service model with high commercialization potential. First, the use of the proposed technology will facilitate the delivery of competence-based training services, which can be offered either standing alone or in combination with other support-based services available for dementia caregivers. Second, the proposed training model can be applied not only for ethnic minority caregivers with dementia, but also for caregivers caring for older adults with other chronic conditions. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed Phase I effort focuses on developing a self-directed skill training intervention program for ethnic Chinese and Hispanic dementia caregivers. This is highly relevant to the nation's public health not only because there is a persistent lack of ethno-cultural and linguistically competent education, support, and assistance programs for these ethnic minority groups, but also because Hispanic and Asian Americans are two fastest growing groups of the nation, increasing by 43% in the past decade, according to the Census Bureau report released in early 2011.