Telephone-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Distressed Rural Dementia Caregivers

Abstract

Abstract Despite the growing use of telecommunication technologies in delivering psychological interventions for family caregivers (CGs) of older adults with dementia, this development has been restricted primarily to large metropolitan areas. Twenty percent of dementia CGs live in small rural communities where Internet transmission services do not exist or are difficult to obtain. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the efficacy of telephone-based cognitive-behavioral (CB) intervention versus routine education and support (ES) in reducing CGs' psychological distress and subjective burden, as well as improving their perceived self-efficacy and specific caregiving-related problems. Although the results are preliminary, partial support was obtained for the differential benefits of CB intervention over ES for this population. Key Words: Telecommunicationcognitive behavioral therapycare-givers