A Telecare-based Intervention in Reducing Stress Level of Informal Caregivers of Community-dwelling Older Adults

Objectives: The primary caregivers of older adults provide intimate and immediate support when their loved one is in urgent need. Due to the full-time commitment in a caregiving role, the caregiver may not have extra time to join the onsite community services that are available to them in the daytime. With the support of advanced technology, telecare seems to be a convenient and easily accessible channel to provide individualized caregiving advice to the caregivers. This study examines the effectiveness of a telecare-based intervention programme for caregivers.

Hypothesis to be tested: To test if the research team-developed telecare-based intervention programme is effective in reducing the stress level of caregivers.

Design and subjects: This is a single-blinded, two-armed pilot randomized controlled trial. The subjects are people who are aged 18 or above, provide care to older adults aged ≥ 60 at least 4 hours per week for a minimum of 3 months, are capable to use smartphone to access the Internet, and are without psychiatric illnesses and cognitive impairment.

Interventions: The intervention group receives the telecare intervention programme designed by the research team. The caregivers receive nurse case management supported by a community health-social service team and be able to access a peer-support discussion forum. The control group receives usual community services

Primary outcome measure: Self-reported stress level; secondary outcome measures: self-efficacy, depression level, quality of life, and caregiving burden.

Data analysis: independent t-test or Mann-Whitney U test will be used to determine the group differences in outcomes measurements between pre- and post-intervention. Intention-to-treat will be employed as the primary analysis in this study. Per-protocol (PP) analysis will be adopted as the secondary analysis and performed separately.

Expected outcomes: Caregivers in the intervention group would benefit from the telecare-based programme with reduced stress level, depression level and caregiving burdens and yet enhanced self-efficacy and quality of life.

Inclusion criteria

• people who are aged ≥18 years old
• understand and communicate in Cantonese
• provide care to the older adults aged ≥60 at least 4 hours per week for a minimum of 3 months
• smartphone user and know how to access the Internet
• commit to attend bi-weekly, 15-30mins online meetings with the program providers over the 3-month period
• willing to receive individual-specific video messages covering caregiving skills via WhatsApp

Exclusion criteria

• alcoholic drinkers or psychiatric drug users
• illiterate (inability to write and read)
• having psychiatric problems
• having cognitive impairment as evidenced by scoring 22 or above in Hong Kong version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment
• already participated in other telecare health or social programs