Using care navigation to address caregiver burden in dementia: A qualitative case study analysis

TLDR

Many dementia caregivers experience significant burden and health effects, and phone‑ and web‑based care navigation has been proposed as an innovative approach to alleviate this burden. The study employed qualitative methods—including interviews, focus groups, and case‑study analysis—to identify the specific care‑navigator strategies used within a dementia care navigation program. Care navigators reduced caregiver guilt, frustration, and depression, managed patient behavior, and improved caregiver‑patient relationships by tailoring interventions to each dyad’s social, cultural, economic, and geographic context, with language‑matched and dementia‑symptom‑knowledgeable navigators proving especially effective.

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Many caregivers of people with dementia experience burden and resulting health effects due to the intensive nature of caregiving. Phone‐ and web‐based care navigation is an innovative model of care that may be useful in addressing caregiver burden in dementia. Methods Qualitative methods (interviews, focus groups, and case study analysis) were used to identify care navigator approaches used to address caregiver burden in dementia as part of a dementia care navigation program. Results Care navigators targeted caregiver burden by focusing on strategies to reduce caregiver guilt and frustration, manage patient‐related behavior, address caregiver depression, and improve the relationship between the caregiver and person with dementia. The case studies presented demonstrate the ways that care navigators identified patient and caregiver needs and tailored their approaches to meet the specific social, cultural, economic, and geographic contexts of the dyads with which they worked. Discussion Findings provide insights into strategies used to address caregiver burden through care navigation. Care navigators who speak the same language as the caregivers with whom they work and who have an in‐depth understanding of the symptoms of different dementia syndromes may be particularly effective.