University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
Primary Care-Based Pilot ePCT of an Online Workshop for Family Caregivers of PLWD
Health Care Systems
UCSF and Bassett Healthcare Network of New York
Dr. Yank is a general internal medicine physician and associate professor at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Her research focuses on effective strategies for patients, family/friend caregivers, health professionals, and health systems to improve chronic disease management and well-being, with a special focus on caregivers of people living with dementia, adults with disabilities, and patients and families living with chronic conditions and disabilities in community settings. Dr. Yank also provides clinical care, teaches, and serves as associate director of the National Clinician Scholars Program at UCSF and the site director for the UCSF Primary Care Research Fellowship.
RATIONALE: While health insurance plans have started covering caregiver education and support services and health economists suggest that programs like the Building Better Caregivers (BBC) workshop are cost-effective, few health systems have adopted them and are unlikely to do so without a demonstration of their effectiveness in real-world contexts. Thus, there is a pressing need to assess the BBC workshop in health systems-based settings, particularly in primary care clinics where the majority of people living with dementia (PLWD) and their family caregiver receive health care.
OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of implementing the BBC workshop for family caregivers of PLWD in diverse primary care settings.
SETTING: Adult primary care clinics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Bassett Healthcare Network of New York.
POPULATION: Family caregivers of PLWD receiving primary care at the UCSF and Bassett Healthcare Network.
INTERVENTION:The BBC workshop is an evidence-based, 6-week, asynchronous, online, and peer-led small group workshop that improves self-care and caregiving skills and social support.
OUTCOMES: The primary clinical outcome is caregiver depression symptoms as measured by the PHQ-9 depression symptoms scale. Secondary outcomes are reducing emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Implementation outcomes are feasibility (percentage of invitation letters unopened or returned, caregiver enrollment rate, and percentage of participants who complete the PHQ-9), fidelity of workshop delivery (workshop completion rate) and acceptability of workshop to caregivers.
IMPACT: If successful, this pilot ePCT will establish the feasibility of a full-scale, Stage IV, primary care-based ePCT to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of the BBC workshop for ethnically, socio-economically, and geographically diverse family caregivers of PLWD. The BBC workshop has the potential to improve caregiver well-being, skills, and by extension, the health of their PLWD.