Dementia Caregivers' Link to Assistance and Resources

The goal of the present study is to pilot test a novel ADRD caregiver assessment instrument, designed specifically for the HH setting, with the ultimate aims of improving caregiver self-efficacy and increasing access to social work during HH for cases involving caregivers who are experiencing high strain and/or low preparedness for caregiving. This is the Dementia Caregivers' Link to Assistance and Resources (DECLARE) program. Specific Aims include: (1) Contacting eligible caregivers to field a caregiver self-assessment and sharing caregiver responses with frontline staff in the patient record, (2) Identifying cases for social work access, and (3) Assessing the feasibility, acceptability, and impact on caregiver outcomes of the activities described in Aims 1 and 2.

This is an embedded Pragmatic Clinical Trial (ePCT) within the VNS Health home health agency. We will implement the intervention in 4 "treatment" branches (includes 8 clinical teams) and will compare to 6 "control" branches (includes 12 clinical teams). Treatment branches will receive the DECLARE intervention described in the following section and control branches will not have any intervention. In both arms, we will conduct baseline and follow-up telephone surveys with caregivers of eligible cases to gather outcomes data. We anticipate a 12-month trial, with regular analytic checkpoints to assess for potential issues and make revisions as needed.

We will identify eligible cases based on the start of care OASIS (home health patients 65 and older with diagnosed ADRD, a caregiver on record with a phone number, and payment through Traditional Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan managed by VNS Health. Research staff will contact the caregiver of record via telephone to field the self-assessment survey. In treatment branches, caregiver responses will be entered into a secure survey platform (RedCAP) and uploaded to the patient electronic health record (HomeCare HomeBase) as a care coordination note. For cases without a social work order, the research team will either (a) contact the Clinical Field Manager to request a social work order, if none exists or (b) contact the appropriate social worker if a social work order is already in place. We anticipate 150 participants (60 from treatment branches and 90 from control branches).

Inclusion criteria

• Individual must be listed as the caregiver of record for a patient receiving home health care from the partner home health agency and have a phone number on file; the patient must meet the inclusion criteria listed below.
• Home health patient (care recipient) must have a documented dementia diagnosis on the home health assessment, be 65 years or older, and have Traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage as their primary payer for the home health episode.

Exclusion criteria

• Caregivers are excluded if they are unable to communicate in English.