Do memory clinics improve the quality of life of carers? A randomized pilot trial

✍ Scribed by Dina Logiudice; Wendy Waltrowicz; Kaye Brown; Colin Burrows; David Ames; Leon FLICKER

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 94 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199908)14:8<626::aid-gps990>3.0.co;2-5

✦ Synopsis

Objective. To determine the eects of attendance at a memory clinic on the psychosocial health of carers. Design. Randomized control trial. Participants. Fifty community dwelling subjects with mild to moderate dementia and their carers. Main outcome measures. Carer burden, psychological morbidity and psychosocial health related quality of life at 6 and 12 months post intervention.

Main results. There was signi®cant improvement in psychosocial health related quality of life of carers as measured by the psychosocial domain of the Functional Limitation Pro®le (FLP) at 6 months ( p 5 0.01), including improvement in the subgroups of alertness behaviour ( p 5 0.05) and social interaction ( p 5 0.01), after adjustment for age of subject and baseline scores. The improvement in social interaction was maintained at 12 months ( p 5 0.05). There was no signi®cant dierence in carer psychological morbidity (General Health Questionnaire), carer burden (Zarit family interview) or carer knowledge of dementia (Dementia Knowledge Test) at 6 or 12 months, between groups.

Conclusions. These results demonstrate improved psychosocial health related quality of life for carers of those with mild to moderate cognitive impairment attending a memory clinic. Further research in this area is indicated, comparing memory clinic intervention with alternative support.