An intervention to maximize medication management by caregivers of persons with memory loss: Intervention overview and two-month outcomes

Abstract

Overseeing medication-taking is a critical aspect of dementia caregiving. This randomized controlled trial examined the efficacy of a tailored, problem-solving intervention designed to maximize medication management practices among caregivers of persons with memory loss. Eighty-three community-dwelling dyads (patient + informal caregiver) with a baseline average of 3 medication deficiencies participated. Home- and telephone-based sessions were delivered by nurse or social worker interventionists and addressed basic aspects of managing medications, plus tailored problem solving for specific challenges. The outcome of medication management practices was assessed using the Medication Management Instrument for Deficiencies in the Elderly (MedMaIDE) and an investigator-developed Medication Deficiency Checklist (MDC). Linear mixed modeling showed both the intervention and usual care groups had decreases in medication management problems as measured by the MedMaIDE (F=6.91, p<.01) and MDC (F=9.72, p<.01) at 2 months post-intervention. The phenomenon of reduced medication deficiencies in both groups suggests that when nurses or social workers merely raise awareness of the importance of medication adherence, there may be benefit.

Validation of Nursing Outcomes and Interventions to Older Adults Care with Risk or Frail Elderly Syndrome: Proposal of Linkages Among NOC, NIC, and NANDA‐I to clinical practice

“…It is known that the patients’ knowledge about their health condition predisposes to adherence to treatment and decreases the chance of errors in the use of their medications, and in cases in which the elderly are unable to manage their medication, the reduced medication deficiencies occur when elder's caregivers also understand the importance of adherence to medication (Bezerra, De Brito, & Costa, ; Oliveira & Santos, ; Lingler et al., ). Thus, the Medication Management intervention (2380) was validated by the specialists for the two NDs, which presupposes facilitation of safe and effective use prescription and over‐the‐counter drugs.…”

Characteristics and Correlates of Caregivers’ Perceptions of Their Family Members’ Memory Loss

“…We conducted a descriptive correlational secondary analysis using baseline data from a larger randomized controlled trial addressing the efficacy of a problem-solving intervention to assist caregivers of patients with memory loss to manage the patients’ medications (Lingler et al, 2016). Published papers using this dataset have discussed factors associated with caregivers’ medication management (Erlen et al, 2013) and reported that these caregivers’ self-efficacy mediated the pathway from their daily hassles to depressive symptoms (Tang, Jang, Lingler, Tamres, & Erlen, 2015).…”

Interventions to Improve Medicines Management for People with Dementia: A Systematic Review

“…As anticipated, the three included studies were heterogeneous in terms of intervention components and outcomes measured, and therefore this review is presented as a narrative summary of the design and effectiveness of the interventions. The three included studies were conducted in two countries (the UK [22,23] and the United States of America (USA) [24]), and were published between 2006 and 2016. Two studies were cRCTs [22,23] and one study was an unblinded RCT [24].…”