Online Educational Tools for Caregivers of People with Dementia: A Scoping Literature Review

Abstract

Background Informal caregivers of people with dementia provide the majority of health-based care to people with dementia. Providing this care requires knowledge and access to resources, which caregivers often do not receive. We set out to evaluate the effect of online educational tools on informal caregiver self-efficacy, quality of life, burden/stress, depression, and anxiety, and to identify effective processes for online educational tool development. Methods We conducted a scoping review of articles on online educational interventions for informal caregivers of people with dementia searching CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed from 1990 to March 2018, with an updated search conducted in 2020. The identified articles were screened and the data were charted. Results 33 articles that reported on 24 interventions were included. There is some evidence that online interventions improve caregiver-related outcomes such as self-efficacy, depression, dementia knowledge, and quality of life; and decrease caregiver burden. Common findings across the studies included the need for tailored, stage-specific information applicable to the caregiver’s situation and the use of psychosocial techniques to develop the knowledge components of the interventions. Conclusion We demonstrate the importance of having caregivers and health-care professionals involved at all stages of tool conceptualization and development. Online tools should be evaluated with robust trials that focus on how increased knowledge and development approaches affect caregiver-related outcomes.

The Effect of a Tele-Health Intervention Program on Home-Dwelling Persons with Dementia or MCI and on Their Primary Caregivers during the Stay-at-Home-Order Period in the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: Evidence from Taiwan

“…First, the beneficial effects of the Tele-Health intervention program on home-dwelling persons with dementia or MCI and their primary caregivers were confirmed due to a significant reduction in the participant’s NPI intensity and their primary caregiver’s stress level. These findings are consistent with results gained from previous studies on the effect of Tele-Health-based intervention on persons with dementia and caregivers [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Since the Tele-Health intervention program (digitally delivering supportive care services to households) protects against the infection of COVID-19, the development of more sophisticated Tele-Health intervention programs could be essential—given the potential risk of future pandemics—for the Taiwanese government to assure continuous care provisions for those who are in need of dementia care.…”

“…Some studies found little or no effect of the Tele-health intervention program on caregivers’ burdens, depressive symptoms, and health-related quality of life [ 27 ], and found insignificant improvements in objective caring skills [ 28 ]. Conversely, other research revealed that the Tele-Health intervention program not only improves quality of life and ameliorates neuropsychiatric symptoms in persons with dementia or MCI, but also leads to a better health outcome for primary caregivers of persons with dementia or MCI, a lower risk of mental health impairment [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], burden reduction [ 29 , 33 ], and improvements in knowledge of dementia [ 29 ].…”

Internet-facilitated interventions for informal caregivers of patients with neurodegenerative disorders: Systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Comparisons of both types have hitherto been examined in narrative, 127 scoping 129,131 and systematic reviews. 25,128,130 Results range from improvements in subjective 127 or objective only 130 to both. 25,128,131 Yet these reviews also exhibit the between-intervention heterogeneity that our review has highlighted.…”

Intervenciones de enfermería psicoeducativas presenciales y on-line, para el manejo de la ansiedad: revisión integradora de la literatura

“…En el ámbito de la salud mental, las terapias basadas en internet, ehealth, han mostrado resultados prometedores, y las publicaciones sobre el tema son numerosas (18,19) , sin embargo, los profesionales de enfermería se han aproximado a las TICs como terapia de forma poco relevante. Aunque en algunos estudios se constatan iniciativas enfermeras en este ámbito (20)(21)(22) , ninguna de las publicaciones localizadas tenía un diseño experimental ni se centró en el manejo de la ansiedad desde la psicoeducación.…”