Training Alzheimer's Disease Caregivers for Successful Communication

Abstract

ABSTRACT A study of 54 Alzheimer's disease (AD) caregivers was conducted to investigate the effects of caregiver communication training. To improve communication with their family members with AD, 32 caregivers participated in an eight-hour training program (FOCUSED). Ten of these were also given follow-up training (FOCUSED-Booster). The questioning patterns of the two groups of FOCUSED trained caregivers planning a menu with their family member with AD were compared to a control group of 22 caregivers. Data were collected over three visits (entry, 6 months, and 12 months). Analysis revealed that for all caregivers, open-ended questions, when compared with yes/no and choice questions, resulted in more failed responses by persons with AD. Following training, at 6 months, both FOCUSED and FOCUSED-Booster caregivers asked fewer open-ended questions compared to the control group. This suggests that communication partners of persons with AD can be trained to structure questions that result in more successful communication.