title: Impact of a therapeutic educational program on quality of life in Alzheimer's disease: results of a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Therapeutic patient education is expanding in the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of a therapeutic educational program, on AD-affected patients and their caregivers, living in the community, on the patient's quality of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  Non experimental before and after study. Patient/caregiver dyads were recruited in the geriatric department of the Toulouse University Hospital. The intervention consisted of an educational program, designed for both patients and caregivers. It included two individual sessions (at baseline (M0) and two months later (M2)) and four group sessions for caregivers only, one per week between M0 and M2. The primary outcome was the patient's quality of life at two months, hetero-evaluated by the caregiver. We compared the QoL-AD score between M0 and M2 with a paired Student's test. The secondary outcomes were patient's autonomy (activities of daily living) and caregiver's burden (Zarit Burden interview).
  
  
  RESULTS
  29 patient/caregiver dyads were recruited. The QoL-AD score was 24.6 ± 5.1 at M0 versus 27.2 ± 6.0 at M2 (p = 0.038). This difference is statistically significant. There was no difference in the secondary outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed a significant positive impact of a therapeutic educational program on patients' quality of life. Our results led us to design a randomized controlled trial called the THERAD study (THERapeutic education in Alzheimer's disease). It started in January 2013, and the results will be available in 2015. If the efficacy of this approach is proven, it will be important to implement educational programs in the care plan of these patients.
authors: Toulouse University Hospital, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France.
authors: Hélène
authors: H
authors: Villars
authors: Toulouse University Hospital, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France Inserm 1027, University of Toulouse III, Toulouse, France.
authors: Charlotte
authors: C
authors: Dupuy
authors: Toulouse University Hospital, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France.
authors: Amélie
authors: A
authors: Perrin
authors: Toulouse University Hospital, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France Inserm U558, University Toulouse III, Toulouse, France.
authors: Bruno
authors: B
authors: Vellas
authors: Toulouse University Hospital, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France Inserm U558, University Toulouse III, Toulouse, France.
authors: Fati
authors: F
authors: Nourhashemi
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D017028:Caregivers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; caregiver; quality of life; therapeutic education