The Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM)

Emerging research on family caregiving and institutionalization has emphasized that families do not disengage from care responsibilities following a relative's admission to residential long-term care settings. The Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM) provides 6 formal sessions of consultation (one-to-one and family sessions) over a 4-month period to those family caregivers who have admitted a cognitively impaired relative to a residential long-term care setting (nursing home, assisted living memory care unit). The proposed mixed method, randomized controlled trial will determine whether and how the RCTM decreases family caregivers' emotional and psychological distress, placement-related strain, and increases relative's transitions back to the community. The RCTM will fill an important clinical and research gap by evaluating a psychosocial intervention designed for families following RLTC placement to determine whether and how this approach can help families better navigate the residential care transitions of relatives with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Dementia; Alzheimer Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: The Residential Care Transition Module

Detailed Description

Emerging research on family caregiving and institutionalization has found that families do not disengage from care responsibilities following relatives' admissions to residential long-term care settings. Families instead remain involved in a spectrum of care activities ranging from instrumental activities of daily living to emotional support. Perhaps for these reasons, a number of studies have noted that caregiving stress, depression, or other key outcomes remain stable or sometimes increase following residential long-term care (RLTC) entry for certain types of caregivers. A few interventions have attempted to increase family involvement after institutionalization, but no rigorous studies have demonstrated that these interventions are effective in helping families navigate transitions to RLTC environments.

The Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM) provides 6 formal sessions of consultation (one-to-one and family sessions) over a 4-month period to those family caregivers who have recently admitted a relative to a RLTC setting. In this randomized controlled trial, family members who have admitted a cognitively impaired relative to a RLTC setting will be randomly assigned to the RCTM [(n = 120)] or a usual care control condition [(n = 120)]. A mixed methods analysis will be used to pursue the following aims: Specific Aim 1: Assess whether the RCTM yields statistically significant reductions in family members' primary subjective stress and negative mental health outcomes; Specific Aim 2) Determine whether family members who receive the RCTM will indicate statistically significant decreases in secondary role strains over a 12-month period when compared to usual care controls; Specific Aim 3) Determine whether RCTM family members report statistically significant decreases in residential care stress when compared to family members in the usual care control group; and Specific Aim 4) Delineate the mechanism of action of RCTM under conditions of high and low success by "embedding" qualitative components (30 semi-structured interviews) at the conclusion of the 12-month evaluation.

The proposed project will fill an important clinical and research gap by evaluating a psychosocial intervention designed for families following RLTC placement that determines whether and how the RCTM can help families better navigate the residential care transitions of cognitively impaired relatives.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 240
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Minnesota
    • Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55455
      • University of Minnesota, School of Nursing, 6-153 Weaver-Densford Hall

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 21 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Family caregivers of relatives who have received a physician's diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia (ADRD)
• Family caregivers who consider themselves the most involved in visiting and providing assistance to a relative experiencing a long-stay admission to an assisted living, nursing home, memory care, or other residential long-term care setting. Those who share the primary caregiving role equally are also eligible.
• Family caregivers must be English speaking, 21 years of age or older
• Family caregivers on psychotropic medications, such as anti-depressants or anti-psychotics, will be eligible if they have remained on a stable dosage for the last 3 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• Family caregivers who are participating in any other type of service that provides one-to-one psychosocial consultation specifically for caregiving (support group participation is not a deterrent to enrollment, nor is general counseling not specific to caregiving)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment Group; The Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM) includes six in-person consultation sessions over a 4-month period conducted by a trained Transition Counselor (TC) with a primary family caregiver (self-identified as the person most responsible for providing on-going assistance to the care recipient in a residential long-term care setting such (RLTC) such as a nursing home or assisted living memory care unit.	Behavioral: The Residential Care Transition Module; Residential Care Transition Module sessions focus on the experiences of the caregiver, the care recipient, and (potentially) other family members immediately following residential long-term care (RLTC) admission. The sessions are designed to establish a therapeutic rapport with the caregiver and the family; provide a safe environment to explore stressors; examine family relational dynamics as they relate to the RLTC placement decision itself as well as the roles different family members play in the life of the caregiver and relative in RLTC; identify new modes of communication to facilitate more effective interactions with other family members and care staff; and identify effective ways to advocate for improved quality of care for and quality of life of their relatives in RLTC.
No Intervention: Usual Care Group; The usual care control group will adjust for the social engagement provided to the Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM )treatment condition. The Transition Counselor (TC) will provide quarterly contact calls and the research coordinator will send a bi-annual project newsletter to all participants. If caregivers in the control group initiate contact with the TC for care needs, the TC will provide information and referral support.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in care-related strain	A 7-item measure of care-related strain that assesses the stress family caregivers perceive as a result of having a relative in residential care	12 months
Change in burden: Zarit Burden Interview	A 7-item version of the Zarit Burden Interview	12 months
Change in stress: Perceived Stress Scale	The Perceived Stress Scale	12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Quantitative measure of resilience to negative psychosocial effects of COVID-19	Compare trajectories of caregiver stress and well-being across the treatment and control groups using quantitative (survey) data to determine whether the RCTM provides benefits in the context of COVID-19.	0, 1 and 4 months post-pandemic onset
Qualitative measure of resilience to negative psychosocial effects of COVID-19	Compare trajectories of caregiver stress and well-being across the treatment and control groups using qualitative (experiences) data to determine whether the RCTM provides benefits in the context of COVID-19.	0, 1 and 4 months post-pandemic onset

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Minnesota
• Collaborators: Johns Hopkins University; NYU Langone Health; Emory University; Benjamin Rose Institute
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Joseph E. Gaugler, PhD, University of Minnesota

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Zmora R, Statz TL, Birkeland RW, McCarron HR, Finlay JM, Rosebush CE, Gaugler JE. Transitioning to Long-Term Care: Family Caregiver Experiences of Dementia, Communities, and Counseling. J Aging Health. 2021 Jan;33(1-2):133-146. doi: 10.1177/0898264320963588. Epub 2020 Sep 29. Erratum In: J Aging Health. 2021 Jun-Jul;33(5-6):NP1.
• Gaugler JE, Statz TL, Birkeland RW, Louwagie KW, Peterson CM, Zmora R, Emery A, McCarron HR, Hepburn K, Whitlatch CJ, Mittelman MS, Roth DL. The ResidentialCare Transition Module: a single-blinded randomized controlled evaluation of a telehealth support intervention for family caregivers of persons with dementia living in residential long-term care. BMC Geriatr. 2020 Apr 15;20(1):133. doi: 10.1186/s12877-020-01542-7.
• Mitchell LL, Albers EA, Birkeland RW, Peterson CM, Stabler H, Horn B, Cha J, Drake A, Gaugler JE. Caring for a Relative With Dementia in Long-Term Care During COVID-19. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022 Mar;23(3):428-433.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2021.11.026. Epub 2021 Dec 17.
• Gaugler JE, Mitchell LL. Reimagining Family Involvement in Residential Long-Term Care. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022 Feb;23(2):235-240. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2021.12.022. Epub 2021 Dec 29.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 14, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): August 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 19, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 26, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): September 27, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 3, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 29, 2022
• Last Verified: July 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: COVID-19; Dementia; Caregivers; Coping; Family caregiving; Institutionalization; Residential long-term care; Placement; Psychosocial support; Nursing homes; Assisted Living Facilities; Long-Term Care; Intervention Study; Psychosocial Support Systems; Social Support
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurocognitive Disorders; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Tauopathies; Dementia; Alzheimer Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1511S80406

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Yes
• IPD Plan Description: The de-identified data supporting our findings will be shared on the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA).
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: Study Protocol; Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No