A multicomponent dementia education and support program for family caregivers: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a multicomponent dementia education and support program on dementia knowledge, attitudes, empathy, self-efficacy in managing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), and caregiver burden among family caregivers. DESIGN: An assessor-blind randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Dementia community day service centers. PARTICIPANTS: Ninety-two family caregivers were recruited from dementia community day service centers. Eligible participants were aged 20 years or older and had provided care to a relative with dementia living at home for at least 3 months. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention group, which received a multicomponent dementia education and support program comprising 360-degree video-based virtual reality (VR) activities, and self-guided dementia care e-book modules, in addition to the routine dementia care manual and support group meetings (n = 46), or the active control group, which received the routine dementia care manual and support group meetings without VR or e-book components (n = 46). MEASUREMENTS: Participants were assessed for dementia knowledge, attitudes toward people with dementia, empathy, self-efficacy in managing BPSD, and caregiver burden were assessed at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and at the 1-month follow-up. RESULTS: GEE analysis showed significant overall group × time interactions for dementia knowledge, Self-efficacy in managing BPSD, and caregiver burden. No significant overall group × time interaction was observed for attitudes toward people with dementia or empathy; however, a significant between-group difference in attitudes was observed at T2 only, whereas empathy showed comparable patterns of increase over time between groups. CONCLUSIONS: This multicomponent dementia education and support program incorporating 360-degree video-based VR activities can improve dementia knowledge, positive attitudes toward people with dementia, and self-efficacy in managing BPSD, and reduce caregiver burden among dementia family caregivers. This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05475002).