Befriending carers of people with dementia: randomised controlled trial |
| |
| Authors: | Georgina Charlesworth Lee Shepstone Edward Wilson Shirley Reynolds Miranda Mugford David Price Ian Harvey Fiona Poland |
| |
| Institution: | 1.Centre for Behavioural and Social Sciences in Medicine, University College London, London W1W 7EJ;2.North East London Mental Health Trust, London;3.School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ;4.Department of General Practice and Primary Care, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2AY;5.School of Allied Health Professions, University of East Anglia |
| |
| Abstract: | Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a voluntary sector based befriending scheme in improving psychological wellbeing and quality of life for family carers of people with dementia.Design Single blind randomised controlled trial.Setting Community settings in East Anglia and London.Participants 236 family carers of people with primary progressive dementia.Intervention Contact with a befriender facilitator and offer of match with a trained lay volunteer befriender compared with no befriender facilitator contact; all participants continued to receive “usual care.”Main outcome measures Carers’ mood (hospital anxiety and depression scale—depression) and health related quality of life (EuroQoL) at 15 months post-randomisation.Results The intention to treat analysis showed no benefit for the intervention “access to a befriender facilitator” on the primary outcome measure or on any of the secondary outcome measures.Conclusions In common with many carers’ services, befriending schemes are not taken up by all carers, and providing access to a befriending scheme is not effective in improving wellbeing.Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN08130075. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
