title: Use of videophones to deliver a cognitive-behavioural therapy to hospice caregivers.
abstract: We investigated the feasibility of videophones for the delivery of problem-solving therapy (PST) for informal hospice caregivers. Informal hospice caregivers were randomly assigned to receive PST from researchers using videophones, instead of communicating in face-to-face sessions. Outcome measures included caregiver anxiety, quality of life and problem-solving abilities, technical quality of videosessions and satisfaction of participants (including both subjects and researchers). A total of 42 hospice caregivers were enrolled (mean age 62 years). A total of 112 videocall attempts were documented. Of these, 100 (89%) resulted in successful videocalls and 12 (11%) were cases in which a call was not established. The average videocall duration was 38 min (range 18-84 min). The overall technical quality of the videocalls was very good. Caregivers reported a slightly higher quality of life post-intervention than at baseline, although this was not significant. Caregivers reported lower levels of anxiety post-intervention than at baseline (P = 0.04). The subjects were generally satisfied with the videophones during their exit interviews.
authors.affiliation: BNHS-Box 357266, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. gdemiris@uw.edu
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Demiris
authors.forename: Debra Parker
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wittenberg-Lyles
authors.forename: Karla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Washington
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006738:Hospices; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011340:Problem Solving; D011788:Quality of Life; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation*