title: Cognitive-behavioral intervention for homebound caregivers of persons with dementia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Family caregivers experience considerable stress in their management of specific behaviors of persons with dementia.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effects of an 8-week cognitive-behavioral (C-B) intervention tailored to the specific deficits of persons with dementia (PWDs) on selected outcomes for homebound caregivers and the functional status of the PWD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The design was a two-group randomized trial with measures taken at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks. Subjects were 65 caregiver-care recipient dyads. A majority of the 65 female caregivers were spouses with a mean age of 66.5 years. Thirty-one women who received the C-B intervention were compared to 34 who received the attention-only (A-O) placebo telephone calls. Coping strategies, perceptions of caregiver burden and satisfaction, and emotional and physical health were assessed at the four points in time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated a time by group interaction in depression, with less depression in the C-B than the A-O group. Both groups experienced a significant reduction in anxiety, and a significant consistent decrease in satisfaction over time. Both groups also demonstrated decreased use of emotion-focused coping strategies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest a plausible effectiveness of the C-B intervention in preventing the progression of depression. Suggestions for future research are provided.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-6918, USA. Bchang@sonnet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003071:Cognition; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D018577:Homebound Persons / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors