Telephone-based, cognitive-behavioral therapy for African American dementia caregivers with depression: initial findings.
OBJECTIVE
Discuss initial findings of a randomized clinical trial comparing the effects of telephone-based and face-to-face (f-to-f) cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) on changes in caregiver (CG) burden, assistance support, depression, and health status for African American (AA) CGs with depression.


METHODS
Pilot study using a prepost, two-group design with 14 enrolled and randomized participants.


METHODS
Subjective Burden subscale of the Caregiver Appraisal Inventory, Assistance Support subscale of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, Physical Symptoms subscale of the Caregiver Health and Health Behavior Inventory and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.


RESULTS
Prepost improvements were found on 11 completers across all measures for both telephone and f-to-f CBT. Moderate and similar effects sizes for CG subjective burden and assistance support were found for both the telephone and f-to-f groups. Effect sizes for physical symptoms and depression varied from low to moderate, respectively, with a trend toward smaller improvements in f-to-f CBT than in telephone CBT. Qualitative analysis highlighted CGs' perceptions of the active ingredients of treatment and provided indirect support for similar gains in emotional and psychosocial functioning across the two treatment modalities.


CONCLUSIONS
Both telephone-based and f-to-f CBT showed improvements in depression, subjective burden, and assistance support in dementia AA CGs. Replication with a larger sample size (N = 106) is currently in progress. Study limitations and future directions for research are also addressed.
Department of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Medicine, Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306-4300, USA. robert.glueckauf@med.fsu.edu
Robert L
RL
Glueckauf
W Shuford
WS
Davis
Floyd
F
Willis
Dinesh
D
Sharma
David J
DJ
Gustafson
Jocelyn
J
Hayes
Mary
M
Stutzman
James
J
Proctor
Michelle M
MM
Kazmer
Leticia
L
Murray
Judith
J
Shipman
Vera
V
McIntyre
Lonnie
L
Wesley
Gabriel
G
Schettini
Jian
J
Xu
Francine
F
Parfitt
Neill
N
Graff-Radford
Cynthia
C
Baxter
Kathleen
K
Burnett
La Tonya
LT
Noël
Kambria
K
Haire
Jane
J
Springer
D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011340:Problem Solving; D012944:Social Support; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D013689:Telephone