The Coping with Caregiving Group Program for Chinese caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease in Hong Kong.
OBJECTIVE
This pilot study evaluated the effectiveness of Coping with Caregiving (CWC) psychoeducational program for Chinese family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease in Hong Kong.


METHODS
Twenty-seven female primary caregivers were randomized to join the treatment group or wait-list control group. The caregivers in the treatment group participated in 13 weekly training sessions which taught specific cognitive-behavioral strategies to handle caregiving stress.


RESULTS
As compared to the wait-list control group, caregivers completing the CWC program demonstrated a significant increase in their self-efficacy for controlling their upsetting thoughts and handling disruptive behaviors of the care recipients. They also reported a significant increase in the use of both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggested that cognitive-behavioral programs can be effective in improving the resourcefulness of Chinese caregivers of persons with dementia in Hong Kong.


CONCLUSIONS
Future CWC programs will have to enhance participants' ability to differentiate among various coping skills and to use situation-appropriate strategies.
Au
Alma
A
Department of Applied Social Science, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China. ssalma@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Li
Sapphire
S
Lee
Kristy
K
Leung
Patrick
P
Pan
Pey-Chyou
PC
Thompson
Larry
L
Gallagher-Thompson
Dolores
D
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000451:nursing*; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016730:Program Development; D011788:Quality of Life; D020377:Self Efficacy