Learning Skills Together Pilot Study

A Pilot Evaluation of Learning Skills Together: A Intervention to Teach Complex Care Skills to Caregivers of Persons Living With Alzheimer's Disease

The Learning Skills Together (LST) program is a synchronous web-based educational intervention developed to address the essential need for training to equip family caregivers to someone with mid-stage Alzheimer's disease to confidently provide complex care tasks.The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility of delivering LST, the program's acceptability to caregivers, and likelihood of effecting caregivers self-efficacy and mastery.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Self Efficacy; Intervention; Family Caregiving; Complex Care
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Learning Skills Together

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 41
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • San Antonio, Texas, United States, 78229
      • UT Health San Antonio

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Family member (including families of choice) to an individual living with Alzheimer's disease who has received a diagnosis from a physician
• Ages 18 and old
• Provides assistance with at least two instrumental activities of daily living or one activity of daily living
• Care recipient is described as being within mid-stage Alzheimer's Disease
• There are no plans to place the care recipient in a skilled nursing facility within the next 3 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• The caregiver is paid to provide care
• The caregiver does not have reliable access to a computer and internet
• The caregiver is unable to read and speak English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Learning Skills Together Intervention; Participants in the Learning Skills Together program will begin their participation with a one-on-one phone call with an interventionist, who will ensure the participant is prepared to to attend the group sessions (e.g., familiar with videoconference technology) and will help the participant to set individual goals. The caregiver participant will then attend 4, group-based sessions lasting approximately 1.5 hours each, to learn about common complex care tasks managed by family caregivers to someone with mid-stage Alzheimer's disease, such as managing behavioral symptoms of dementia, incontinence, nutrition, transferring, medication management, and more. Sessions will integrate interactive activities, such as videos, case studies, and discussions. Approximately four weeks later, caregivers will be asked to attend a group reflection session to discuss application of what was learned and progress in meeting individual goals.

Behavioral: Learning Skills Together; Information provided in arm/group description.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Caregiver Competency	This will be measured using the Caregiving Competence Scale. This measure includes 3-items pertaining to caregiver's confidence (e.g., "I feel confident that I am meeting the needs of my relative"). There are five response options to each statement ("Strongly Disagree" [1] to "Strongly Agree" [5]), such that scores may range from 3 to 15. A lower score indicates a lower level of confidence that the caregiver is meeting their relative's needs (i.e., higher scores are better). The outcome measure will use the average change score from baseline scores.	Change from baseline to 4 weeks post-intervention; and to 8 weeks post-intervention
Change in Caregiver Mastery	This will be measured using the Caregiver Mastery Scale. This 7-item scale asks participants the extent to which they feel they have control over various parts of their lives (e.g., "I have little control over the things that happen to me"). Participants may respond that they "Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly agree (4) with each statement, such that scores range from 7 to 28. The lower the score, the less control the caregiver feels that they have control (i.e., higher scores are better). The mean score for this measure among caregivers to frail older adults was previously reported as 19.42 (SD 3.29), with Cronbach's alpha of 0.78. The outcome measure will use the average change score from baseline scores.	Change from baseline to 4 weeks post-intervention; and to 8 weeks post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Carole L White, PhD, RN, UT Health San Antonio

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Pearlin LI, Schooler C. The structure of coping. J Health Soc Behav. 1978 Mar;19(1):2-21. No abstract available.
• Pearlin LI, Mullan JT, Semple SJ, Skaff MM. Caregiving and the stress process: an overview of concepts and their measures. Gerontologist. 1990 Oct;30(5):583-94. doi: 10.1093/geront/30.5.583.
• Chan EY, Glass G, Chua KC, Ali N, Lim WS. Relationship between Mastery and Caregiving Competence in Protecting against Burden, Anxiety and Depression among Caregivers of Frail Older Adults. J Nutr Health Aging. 2018;22(10):1238-1245. doi: 10.1007/s12603-018-1098-1.
• Robertson, SM, Zarit, SH, Duncan, LG, Rovine, MJ, & Femia, EE. Family caregivers' patterns of positive and negative affect. Family Relations. 2007; 56(1): 12-23.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 3, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 15, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): September 9, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 9, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 10, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): June 11, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 21, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 17, 2023
• Last Verified: March 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: HSC20200410H

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified study data will be made available to other researchers if requested.

Drug and device information, study documents

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