Ecological Momentary Assessments and Interventions in Alzheimer’s Caregiving

Title:Ecological Momentary Assessments and Interventions in Alzheimer’s Caregiving

Volume: 15 Issue: 11

Author(s): Carlo Lazzari*

Affiliation:

• International Centre for Healthcare and Medical Education, King`s Wood Centre, Colchester CO45JY,United Kingdom

Keywords: Alzheimer`s disease, caregivers, e-learning, educational apps, ecological momentary assessment, ecological momentary intervention.

Abstract: Background: Caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) often experience feelings of lack of support and information from specialists when operating in real scenarios, inclusive of old-age psychiatric wards, care homes, community, and patient’s home.

Objective: AD caregivers can provide narrative about what issues need to be addressed in Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to capture real-time and real-scenario needs in AD caregiving, and Ecological Momentary Interventions (EMI) as online e-learning to assist in areas of concerns.

Method: Twelve focus group discussions took place with AD caregivers for a total of 62 people interviewed. Once major themes in surveys and learning were identified by using discourse analysis, AD caregivers expressed the likelihood that these themes (where 0 meant “nil” and 1 meant “completely”) would address their focal needs in caregiving and topics in learning. Z scores for proportions and Cohen’s d effect size were calculated for each item reporting the averaged scores.

Results: AD caregivers indicated that the major areas of concern that could benefit from an EMA/EMI online platform were: support (d=3.08), collaboration (d=1.85), medication review (d=1.21), dealing with grief and mourning, and time (d=0.97). Moreover, they identified personal resources available to provide help to colleagues: support (d=1.34), information (d=0.97), collaboration (d=2.06), hospital admission (d=3.08), and hospital discharge (d=5.50).

Conclusion: Focus groups and narratives can be the initial stage in creating a dedicated AD app supporting EMA/EMI in AD care.

Cite this article as:

Lazzari Carlo *, Ecological Momentary Assessments and Interventions in Alzheimer’s Caregiving, Current Alzheimer Research 2018; 15 (11) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1567205015666180702111523