Designing a Tailored Primary Care Intervention to Manage the Burden of Caring for Patients Living with Alzheimer's Disease or Related Dementia

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are designing a tailored primary care intervention to help manage the challenges faced by people caring for patients with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. The study uses a two-phase process: first, reaching consensus on the intervention through expert panels using a Delphi-modified method, and second, assessing how acceptable the developed intervention is to carers and healthcare professionals. This approach follows guidelines for developing complex interventions and involves collaboration among carers, healthcare workers, and academic experts. The first phase involves several rounds where panels rate proposed interventions via questionnaires and discussions until a consensus is reached, typically after 3-4 rounds. The second phase introduces the agreed-upon intervention to three professional health communities, collecting both quantitative data on usage and acceptance, and qualitative feedback through observations and interviews. This ongoing evaluation allows the intervention to be refined continuously. Participants include adult informal carers, healthcare professionals from the involved communities, and university experts. Data collection involves qualitative interviews, focus groups, and surveys to measure how well the intervention is accepted and used over time. The main outcome is a detailed description of the intervention after 12 months, with acceptability assessed at 6 months. The study spans multiple months and follows a structured process for developing and evaluating the intervention.

Designing a Tailored Primary Care Intervention to Manage the Burden of Caring for Patients Living with Alzheimer's Disease (or a Related Dementia)