Supporting Informal Caregivers of People with Dementia

This podcast episode discusses the important topic of how to support those who care for people with dementia. Dementia tends to inform many conversations around caregiving, largely because it is such a pressing public health concern.

Yet, this is a conversation that goes beyond a single diagnosis. After all, many of our occupational therapy clients receive some type of caregiving, whether formal or informal. And, the reality is that caregivers’ health (or lack thereof) is likely to impact our clients’ health.

I believe all occupational therapists—regardless of practice setting or patient population—will benefit from understanding the takeaways from this research.

After we look at some specific research on this topic, we’ll be bringing in our expert guest, Brandy Archie, the founder of AccessAble Living, to talk about the practical implications of supporting caregivers in your OT practice.

1. Based on the research, you will be able to identify commonalities of OT interventions that had the best outcomes.

2. Based on the research, you will be able to identify which areas of caregiver health may be most beneficial to assess for measuring outcomes.

• Intro

• Breakdown of primary research

  • Why is there such a need to support informal caregivers of people with dementia?

  • What does the research tell us about the potential toll of being a caregiver—and how does this impact the health of the person with dementia?

  • What was the intent of this systematic review?

  • How did the classify supportive interventions?

  • What OT-specific results did they find?

  • What assessments were used in the OT studies?

  • What were some other results of interest to OTs?

  • What did the authors conclude and discuss?

  • What are some practical takeaways for OTs?

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with guest Brandy Archie)

  1. Why do you think it is important for OTs to consider the support of caregivers?

  2. What are the current gaps you see in adequately supporting caregivers?

  3. Based on your reading/experience, what are some components of an OT interventions that would focus more explicitly on supporting caregivers?

  4. How do you see the support of caregivers playing out in your own practice?

  5. How do you use home modifications to support caregivers?

  6. Have you ever done any assessments related to caregiver health/burden? Did any assessments in the research look interesting to you?

  7. What are some ways OTs can get reimbursed for providing caregiver support? How can we document caregiver support to ensure we get paid for our time?

  8. In your ideal world, how would you like to see OTs supporting caregivers in the traditional setting, as well as by taking a more entrepreneurial approach?

Original Primary Article

• Effectiveness of Supporting Informal Caregivers of People with Dementia: A Systematic Review of Randomized and Non-Randomized Controlled Trials

Updated Articles

• The Experiences of Informal Caregivers of People With Dementia in Web-Based Psychoeducation Programs: Systematic Review and Metasynthesis

• Occupational Therapy Interventions for Dementia Caregivers: Scoping Review

• Supporting Informal Dementia Caregivers Through an iSupport Web-Based Primary Health Care Intervention: Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Mixed Methods Study

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Brandy Archie is founding director of AccessAble Living, which provides home modification services for older adults — the services discussed in this course.