What is the benefit to my organization? | The NYU Caregiver Intervention

If you are a decision-maker for a managed care organization, area agency on aging, governmental organization, or other social service agency that provides services for older adults, the NYUCI telehealth counseling program can be an important component to your care services for families of people with dementia.

Results: Caregiver and Provider Feedback

Minnesota caregivers that participated in the program were encouraged to indicate the ways that they used the information or methods learned from the program. The most frequently reported benefits (listed below) were around stress management and coping, education about Alzheimer’s disease, and family involvement, in addition to other positives gained from the program:

• Helped with stress management & coping (88%)

• Educated them or their family members about Alzheimer’s disease (76%)

• Got family members or friends more engaged in helping out (76%)

• Helped to get new services for their loved one (64%)

• Found new ways to provide care one-on-one (52%)

• Made new friend(s) through support groups (48%)

• Helped to get new services for themselves (44%)

• Changed the living arrangements for myself or person with Alzheimer’s disease (24%)

• Helped them with issues such as health insurance, financial issues, or legal issues (20%)

Caregivers, in general, indicated the program met their needs and that they would continue to use the information or skills they learned.

Reference: A Guide to Implementing the New York University Caregiver Intervention and The Minnesota Experience, Mary Mittelman, DrPH, Cynthia Epstein, LCSW, Deborah Paone, MHSA, Donna Walberg, MBA, Alzheimer’s Disease Support Services Program | November 2010 p. 154.

This project was supported, in part, by grant number 90AZ2809/01 from the Administration on Aging, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington DC 20201 and the Minnesota Board on Aging, St Paul, MN 55155. Additional support was provided by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 MH42216 and R01 AG14634 and the NYU Alzheimer’s Disease Center P30 AG08051).

Impact

In the original study at NYU, positive impacts of the intervention could still be documented five years after the active phase of the intervention. Study participants were contacted and reassessed every six months until two years after the death of the person with AD. Ad hoc contacts continued to be encouraged, as well as support group participation.

Based on the data available to date, the Minnesota effort is having similar positive effects on caregiver depression, reaction to memory and problem behaviors, and improvements in and satisfaction with social networks as did the New York experience (see Data Analysis section for more detail). These factors were attributed by the New York researchers as those that helped avoid premature nursing facility placement.

The memory care consultants who have been providing the NYUCI have been very clear in stating that this approach adds value to what they can do to support their client families.

Memory Care Consultant comments

The memory care consultants who have been providing the NYUCI have been very clear in stating that this approach adds value to what they can do to support their client families. They stated that they felt the NYUCI offered a significant enhancement to their sites’ “usual care,” particularly around incorporating and involving the family members of the spousal caregiver. They also indicated that the intervention was now embedded in their own practice and that they would advocate for their sites to continue to offer this intervention to caregivers.

“I feel useful, purposeful, and successful. I believe this has kept the caregiver and family stronger. Whether the care receiver will be able to stay at home longer is unknown. It is hard to measure. Those who have left home had some other major health issue, e.g. fell, or the caregiver health declined. This program has impacted the lives of the caregivers; it has decreased their stress. It has educated them on AD. I believe in this program.”

NYUCI Memory Care Consultant

“For the spousal caregiver the benefits are very tangible. It is free help. It provides them an opportunity for relief. It gives them direction; validation. Someone to listen to them. The caregiver understands his/her role better because of the assessment. They understand why they are fatigued and stressed. They know they aren’t feeling good; that they are impatient – but then after the assessment they realize why and it helps put it in perspective. They recognize themselves in this situation. It serves as a mirror and provides them with a picture they wouldn’t have otherwise seen. They say “I can have a break. I do have a right to a life. This doesn’t have to be a death sentence for me too.”

NYUCI Memory Care Consultant

Sub-site:

For Organizations