Peer reviewed – randomised controlled trial - humans
A University of East Anglia project to help carers looking after people with dementia has been hailed a success.
Researchers created a digital therapy platform, for use on mobile devices or computers, and tested it out on almost 500 volunteers.
A new paper published today reveals that carers using the platform had lower levels of anxiety and depression after three and six months compared with those receiving usual care alone.
The findings are part of a £1.23 million project funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Lead researcher Dr Naoko Kishita, from UEA's School of Health Sciences, said: "We know family carers of those living with dementia are at higher risk of mental health problems.
"Many family members around the world provide unpaid support to a person with dementia.
"Research shows that around one in three people supporting someone with dementia experiences anxiety or depression, but many struggle to access help because they cannot leave the person they support or because health and care services are under pressure.
"To address this, we created a digital platform that focuses on helping people handle difficult or troubling thoughts and feelings, whilst taking actions that are important to them, like looking after their own health."
How the research happened
A total of 496 people supporting a family member with dementia took part in the study as part of a large-scale national trial.
Half were given access to digital therapy via a platform called iACT4CARERS, alongside their usual care, and the other half received usual care only.
Participants allocated to receive the digital therapy were asked to complete eight online sessions. They received additional support from trained NHS support workers based at 20 NHS services across England, delivered through written feedback and, where needed, optional phone or video calls.
The intervention was designed to be low cost, flexible and easy for many people to access.
Dr Kishita said: "We found that people who used the digital support platform had noticeably lower anxiety after three months compared with those who just received usual support. Importantly, these improvements were sustained at the six-month follow-up.
"People genuinely felt better"
"The improvement wasn't just statistically significant - it was meaningful in real life. People genuinely felt better.
"This is really important because iACT4CARERS offers support that is flexible, affordable and easy to access from home.
"The programme only needs a small amount of support from trained support workers, which means it could help many more people get the mental health support they need.
"We hope this system could be a powerful tool to support family carers, who we know are vulnerable to mental health issues. Because it's online and needs only minimal professional support, it has strong potential to be rolled out across the UK and, potentially, internationally, to support carers in their important work."
Prof Anthony Gordon, Director for the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme, said: "Caring for someone with dementia is incredibly challenging and often lonely, so it's absolutely vital that the people giving this care also have swift access to any support they may need to help manage their own wellbeing.
"The study team's findings highlight a range of potential benefits: the platform is user-friendly, cost-effective and because it's available online, it could help to support a significant number of people. It's a perfect illustration of why investing in studies which can help to identify and carefully evaluate suitable online technology solutions is so important."
This study was led by UEA in collaboration with University College London (UCL), the Centre for Ethnic Health Research, Uppsala University (Sweden), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), and Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
'Clinical effectiveness of internet-delivered self-help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for family carers of people with dementia (iACT4CARERS): a multicentre, parallel, randomised controlled trial' is published in the The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
