Vietnamese Caregiver Intervention Study

A Culturally-Relevant Approach to Reducing Dementia Caregiver Stress in an Underserved Population

The purpose of this study is to develop and implement a culturally-appropriate intervention to reduce stress in Vietnamese dementia caregivers. A pilot intervention will be done to test the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention in a community setting. This will be done by randomly assigning a family triad (primary caregiver, secondary caregiver, and their care recipient) into an active intervention or a control condition and monitoring findings at baseline, post-intervention, and at three months.The intervention will consist of multiple components -enhanced psycho-education that includes discussion of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and cultural impacts on beliefs about dementia and caregiving, management of problem behaviors, facilitation of support seeking, and mindful Tai Chi. A secondary caregiver who the primary caregiver identifies as providing him/her with the most support will be invited to join all components, but the intervention will be flexible depending on caregivers' needs/preferences. The care recipient is not required to join the sessions but will be able to if he/she or the family wishes. During the intervention, community partners will provide respite care for the care recipient.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cognitive Impairment; Alzheimer's Disease (Incl Subtypes)
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Enhanced psycho-education about dementia and caregiving

Detailed Description

Twenty-four (24) caregivers, the identified secondary caregiver, and a care recipient will be randomly assigned into the active intervention or a control condition: 16 triads in the intervention condition, 8 in the control.

For the primary caregivers: Primary caregivers will attend six weekly intervention sessions lasting 2 hours each. Based on previous Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) of a successful behavior change (i.e., smoking cessation) intervention in Vietnamese using only 2-3 sessions, six sessions were chosen as a middle ground. In the first 45 minutes, primary caregivers and a secondary caregiver (who the primary caregiver identifies) will participate in family psycho-education delivered by a Master's level trained, bilingual facilitator. Each group will consist of no more than four dyads (4 different groups totaling 16 dyads). The curriculum will be adapted based on what the Alzheimer's Association and REACH II have successfully used as well as what the University of California (UC) Davis Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC) has implemented. The sessions will cover the following: a clinical model of dementia and helping family members come to a shared understanding of the nature and cause of dementia. The innovative component is a discussion of cultural values typical of individuals in Vietnamese and American cultures and how this can influence perceptions of dementia and caregiving strategies. This is important because it will help family members who disagree on the etiology of dementia and strategies for care to empathize with each other's perspective. Subsequent sessions will help caregivers learn skills and develop self-efficacy in dealing with patient symptoms, accessing resources (e.g., in-home support), and gaining family support in culturally-congruent ways. Facilitating the use of formal and informal support is a critical piece as Vietnamese caregivers may be looking for basic and concrete assistance rather than help in coping with caregiving.

The last part of the intervention is mindful Tai Chi that was chosen for several reasons. In a recent review and meta-analysis, Tai Chi showed beneficial effects on depression, anxiety, stress management, and self-efficacy. Second, Tai Chi is rooted in East Asian traditions and philosophies that promote balance and healing of the mind and body, thus addressing holistic beliefs Vietnamese have about wellness. An RCT of Tai Chi recently was successfully completed in Vietnam, demonstrating its growing acceptance in the Vietnamese population. The protocol will be adapted to meet caregivers' needs and highlight meditation that involves accepting stressful circumstances, thus capitalizing on emotion regulation strategies.

For the care recipients: Care recipients will receive the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) measure to assess their mental status at baseline. The purpose of the Quality of Life - Alzheimer's Disease (QoL-AD) measure is to assess the caregiver intervention affects the care recipient's quality of life. The total time to complete these questionnaires is about 30 minutes per session.

Participants not randomized to the active intervention will receive educational materials/pamphlets on dementia and occasional phone-calls by research assistants to maintain contact, as is the standard of care in most caregiver intervention studies. Including a control condition will allow for mirroring of the actual larger trial as closely as possible, and also ascertain the feasibility of randomization.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 11
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Sacramento, California, United States, 95817
      • University of California, Davis

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 19 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Caregivers will be included if they (a) are Vietnamese; (b) are age 21+; (c) speak Vietnamese and/or English (d) provide day-to-day, hands on care to a family member with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or cognitive impairment related to AD (e) have at least one family member who will also participate in the intervention; (f) volunteer informed consent; (g) are physically able to participate; and (g) expect to stay in the Sacramento area for the duration of the study
• Care recipients will be included if they are (a) Vietnamese; (b) are age 21+; (c) have reported Alzheimer's disease (AD) or cognitive impairment related to AD; (d) have at least one caregiver who is participating in the intervention (e) volunteer informed consent or surrogate consent, and (f) expect to stay in the Sacramento area for the duration of the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• If the care recipient expresses dissent to participation or to the use of surrogate consent, then he/she will be excluded from the study.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Active Intervention; Six weekly intervention sessions (2 hours, each) that include enhanced psycho-education and discussion of AD and cultural impacts on beliefs about dementia and caregiving, management of problem behaviors, facilitation of support seeking, and mindful Tai Chi.	Behavioral: Enhanced psycho-education about dementia and caregiving; Enhanced psycho-education re dementia and caregiving helping family members come to shared understanding of the nature and cause of dementia. Discussion of cultural values in Vietnamese and American cultures and how this can influence perceptions of dementia and caregiving strategies will help family members who disagree on the etiology of dementia and strategies for care to empathize with each other's perspective. Other sessions will teach skills to develop self-efficacy in dealing with patient symptoms, to access resources (e.g., in-home support), and to gain family support in culturally-congruent ways. Mindful Tai Chi is rooted in East Asian traditions and philosophies that promote balance and healing of the mind and body, thus addressing holistic beliefs Vietnamese have about wellness.; Other Names: management of problem behaviors; facilitation of support-seeking; mindful Tai Chi
No Intervention: Control; Participants will receive educational materials/pamphlets on dementia and occasional phone-calls by research assistants to maintain contact, as is the standard of care in most caregiver intervention studies.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Randomization	% of eligible dyads who agree to randomization	assessed once all 3-month follow-ups are complete
Retention	Retention in both arms of the study; Note: no formal assessment tool will be used - this will be assessed via number of participants retained	assessed once all 3-month follow-ups are complete
Caregiver Intervention Adherence	% of dyads engaging in the initial session, % completing at least 3 sessions, and % completing all sessions	assessed at end of study, once all 3-month follow-ups are complete
Treatment Fidelity	Extent to which the facilitator adheres to the intervention protocol, as measured by a self-report checklist, with a goal of 85% adherence to key elements	assessed once all 3-month follow-ups are complete
Administration of Study Measures	% of baseline, post-, and 3-month assessments completed (considering length of assessments and completeness of collected data	assessed at end of study, once all 3-month follow-ups are complete
Acceptability	Assessed through a questionnaire and interview assessing the perceptions of the intervention by primary and secondary caregivers, CBO staff/administrators, and interventionists.	2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS)	This scale assesses knowledge about AD. The scale has 30 statements. Subjects are asked to rate each statement as True or False.	Baseline, 6-weeks (Post-intervention), 3 months post-intervention
Caregiver Self-Efficacy	Asks the caregiver about how confident in their ability to keep up their own activities and also respond to caregiving situations. The Scale includes 10 items, and asks caregivers to rate their confidence in handling situations on a scale from 1 to 10.	Baseline, 6-weeks (Post-intervention), 3 months post-intervention
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale	This is a self-report depression scale that asks how many times during the past week a person has felt symptoms of depression. There are 20 items.	Baseline, 6-weeks (Post-intervention), 3 months post-intervention
Zarit Burden Inventory (ZBI)	This is a caregiver self-report measure that contains 22 items. Each item on the interview is a statement which the caregiver is asked to endorse using a 5-point scale. Response options range from 0 (Never) to 4 (Nearly Always).	Baseline, 6-weeks (Post-intervention), 3 months post-intervention
Quality of Life - Alzheimer's Disease (QoL-AD)	The QOL-AD is a brief, 13-item measure designed specifically to obtain a rating of the patient's Quality of Life from both the patient and the caregiver. It was developed for individuals with dementia, based on patient, caregiver, and expert input, to maximize construct validity, and to ensure that the measure focuses on quality of life domains thought to be important in cognitively impaired older adults. It uses simple and straightforward language and responses & includes assessments of the individual's relationships with friends and family, concerns about finances, physical condition, mood, and an overall assessment of life quality.	Baseline, 6-weeks (Post-intervention), 3 months post-intervention
Perceived Stress Scale	This scale asks subjects about how often they have felt or thought about 10 items during the past month.	Baseline, 6-weeks (Post-intervention), 3 months post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, Davis
• Collaborators: National Institute on Aging (NIA); Alzheimer's Association
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Oanh Meyer, PhD, MAS, University of California, Davis

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R. A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav. 1983 Dec;24(4):385-96. No abstract available.
• Ware J Jr, Kosinski M, Keller SD. A 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey: construction of scales and preliminary tests of reliability and validity. Med Care. 1996 Mar;34(3):220-33. doi: 10.1097/00005650-199603000-00003.
• Logsdon RG, Gibbons LE, McCurry SM, Teri L. Assessing quality of life in older adults with cognitive impairment. Psychosom Med. 2002 May-Jun;64(3):510-9. doi: 10.1097/00006842-200205000-00016.
• Carver CS. You want to measure coping but your protocol's too long: consider the brief COPE. Int J Behav Med. 1997;4(1):92-100. doi: 10.1207/s15327558ijbm0401_6.
• Callahan CM, Unverzagt FW, Hui SL, Perkins AJ, Hendrie HC. Six-item screener to identify cognitive impairment among potential subjects for clinical research. Med Care. 2002 Sep;40(9):771-81. doi: 10.1097/00005650-200209000-00007.
• Carpenter BD, Balsis S, Otilingam PG, Hanson PK, Gatz M. The Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale: development and psychometric properties. Gerontologist. 2009 Apr;49(2):236-47. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnp023. Epub 2009 Mar 25.
• Fortinsky RH, Kercher K, Burant CJ. Measurement and correlates of family caregiver self-efficacy for managing dementia. Aging Ment Health. 2002 May;6(2):153-60. doi: 10.1080/13607860220126763.
• Bedard M, Molloy DW, Squire L, Dubois S, Lever JA, O'Donnell M. The Zarit Burden Interview: a new short version and screening version. Gerontologist. 2001 Oct;41(5):652-7. doi: 10.1093/geront/41.5.652.
• Meyer OL, Nguyen KH, Dao TN, Vu P, Arean P, Hinton L. The Sociocultural Context of Caregiving Experiences for Vietnamese Dementia Family Caregivers. Asian Am J Psychol. 2015 Sep;6(3):263-272. doi: 10.1037/aap0000024. Epub 2015 Jun 15.
• Resnick B, Ory MG, Hora K, Rogers ME, Page P, Bolin JN, Lyle RM, Sipe C, Chodzko-Zajko W, Bazzarre TL. A proposal for a new screening paradigm and tool called Exercise Assessment and Screening for You (EASY). J Aging Phys Act. 2008 Apr;16(2):215-33. doi: 10.1123/japa.16.2.215.
• Jorm AF, Jacomb PA. The Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE): socio-demographic correlates, reliability, validity and some norms. Psychol Med. 1989 Nov;19(4):1015-22. doi: 10.1017/s0033291700005742.
• Schulz R, Burgio L, Burns R, Eisdorfer C, Gallagher-Thompson D, Gitlin LN, Mahoney DF. Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH): overview, site-specific outcomes, and future directions. Gerontologist. 2003 Aug;43(4):514-20. doi: 10.1093/geront/43.4.514. No abstract available.
• Phan T, Steel Z, Silove D. An ethnographically derived measure of anxiety, depression and somatization: the Phan Vietnamese Psychiatric Scale. Transcult Psychiatry. 2004 Jun;41(2):200-32. doi: 10.1177/1363461504043565.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 22, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): March 31, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 12, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 13, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): July 17, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 8, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 6, 2021
• Last Verified: October 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Alzheimer's Disease; Caregiver; Vietnamese
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurocognitive Disorders; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Dementia; Tauopathies; Alzheimer Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: 823071; K01AG052646 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No
• IPD Plan Description: IPD will not be shared with other researchers.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No