Online Educational Tools for Caregivers of People with Dementia: A Scoping Literature Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5770/cgj.24.506Keywords:
online intervention, dementia, caregiver, educational, support services, eHealthAbstract
Background
Informal caregivers of people with dementia provide the majority of health-based care to people with dementia. Providing this care requires knowledge and access to resources, which caregivers often do not receive. We set out to evaluate the effect of online educational tools on informal caregiver self-efficacy, quality of life, burden/stress, depression, and anxiety, and to identify effective processes for online educational tool development.
Methods
We conducted a scoping review of articles on online educational interventions for informal caregivers of people with dementia searching CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed from 1990 to March 2018, with an updated search conducted in 2020. The identified articles were screened and the data were charted.
Results
33 articles that reported on 24 interventions were included. There is some evidence that online interventions improve caregiver-related outcomes such as self-efficacy, depression, dementia knowledge, and quality of life; and decrease caregiver burden. Common findings across the studies included the need for tailored, stage-specific information applicable to the caregiver’s situation and the use of psychosocial techniques to develop the knowledge components of the interventions.
Conclusion
We demonstrate the importance of having caregivers and health-care professionals involved at all stages of tool conceptualization and development. Online tools should be evaluated with robust trials that focus on how increased knowledge and development approaches affect caregiver-related outcomes.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Richard Sztramko, Anthony Levinson, Andrea Wurster, Rita Jezrawi, Branavan Sivapathasundaram, Alexandra Papaioannou, David Cowan, Joye St. Onge, Sharon Marr, Christopher Patterson, Tricia Woo, Lori Mosca, Cynthia LokkerAuthors contributing to the Candian Geriatrics Journal retain copyright of their work, with exclusive publication rights granted to the Canadian Geriatrics Society upon article acceptance. Read the journal's full copyright and open access policy.