Learning Skills Together Pilot Study

Self Efficacy Clinical Trial

Official title:

A Pilot Evaluation of Learning Skills Together: A Intervention to Teach Complex Care Skills to Caregivers of Persons Living With Alzheimer's Disease

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04428034
• Other study ID #: HSC20200410H
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 3, 2020
• Est. completion date: September 9, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: March 2023
• Source: The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The Learning Skills Together (LST) program is a synchronous web-based educational intervention developed to address the essential need for training to equip family caregivers to someone with mid-stage Alzheimer's disease to confidently provide complex care tasks.The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility of delivering LST, the program's acceptability to caregivers, and likelihood of effecting caregivers self-efficacy and mastery.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 41
• Est. completion date: September 9, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: August 15, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Family member (including families of choice) to an individual living with Alzheimer's disease who has received a diagnosis from a physician
• Ages 18 and old
• Provides assistance with at least two instrumental activities of daily living or one activity of daily living
• Care recipient is described as being within mid-stage Alzheimer's Disease
• There are no plans to place the care recipient in a skilled nursing facility within the next 3 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• The caregiver is paid to provide care
• The caregiver does not have reliable access to a computer and internet
• The caregiver is unable to read and speak English

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Complex Care
• Family Caregiving
• Intervention
• Self Efficacy

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Learning Skills Together
Information provided in arm/group description.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	UT Health San Antonio	San Antonio	Texas

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (4)

Chan EY, Glass G, Chua KC, Ali N, Lim WS. Relationship between Mastery and Caregiving Competence in Protecting against Burden, Anxiety and Depression among Caregivers of Frail Older Adults. J Nutr Health Aging. 2018;22(10):1238-1245. doi: 10.1007/s12603-018-1098-1. — View Citation

Pearlin LI, Mullan JT, Semple SJ, Skaff MM. Caregiving and the stress process: an overview of concepts and their measures. Gerontologist. 1990 Oct;30(5):583-94. doi: 10.1093/geront/30.5.583. — View Citation

Pearlin LI, Schooler C. The structure of coping. J Health Soc Behav. 1978 Mar;19(1):2-21. No abstract available. — View Citation

Robertson, SM, Zarit, SH, Duncan, LG, Rovine, MJ, & Femia, EE. Family caregivers' patterns of positive and negative affect. Family Relations. 2007; 56(1): 12-23.

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in Caregiver Competency	This will be measured using the Caregiving Competence Scale. This measure includes 3-items pertaining to caregiver's confidence (e.g., "I feel confident that I am meeting the needs of my relative"). There are five response options to each statement ("Strongly Disagree" [1] to "Strongly Agree" [5]), such that scores may range from 3 to 15. A lower score indicates a lower level of confidence that the caregiver is meeting their relative's needs (i.e., higher scores are better). The outcome measure will use the average change score from baseline scores.	Change from baseline to 4 weeks post-intervention; and to 8 weeks post-intervention
Primary	Change in Caregiver Mastery	This will be measured using the Caregiver Mastery Scale. This 7-item scale asks participants the extent to which they feel they have control over various parts of their lives (e.g., "I have little control over the things that happen to me"). Participants may respond that they "Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly agree (4) with each statement, such that scores range from 7 to 28. The lower the score, the less control the caregiver feels that they have control (i.e., higher scores are better). The mean score for this measure among caregivers to frail older adults was previously reported as 19.42 (SD 3.29), with Cronbach's alpha of 0.78. The outcome measure will use the average change score from baseline scores.	Change from baseline to 4 weeks post-intervention; and to 8 weeks post-intervention