Internet-based interventions for family carers of people with dementia

There is an urgent global need for accessible, usable, effective and scalable skills training and support programs for carers of people with dementia, particularly in LMICs. WHO's iSupport is filling this gap by providing such a program, accessible for translation and cultural adaptation worldwide. First steps have been undertaken to support the systematic and culturally fair translation and adaptation of the program in several countries. However, while web-based or online programs for dementia carers such as iSupport seem to be promising, the scaling of these programs remains challenging and is a common issue for digital health solutions. In fact, the findings of a first efficacy study from India highlight the need to understand carers' individual situation better and tailor support programs even more to their specific needs. Going forward, iSupport could be improved by adding a mobile phone application to offer more flexibility to users, including an interactive or moderated chat function or more audio-visual materials to the online program to increase its appeal. To assist carers who wish to use more traditional ways of learning, WHO has released the iSupport hardcopy manual, which presents the entire iSupport content in book format. Further robust cultural adaptations and high-quality research investigating the effectiveness of iSupport across different settings and for different groups of carers are required. Finally, in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, digital support services such as iSupport are more important than ever and present a real opportunity to build back better, which will help to reach the global target set by WHO that 75% of countries will provide support and training programs for carers and families of people with dementia by 2025. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Involvement, worries and loneliness of family caregivers of people with dementia during the COVID-19 visitor ban in long-term care facilities.

To prevent COVID-19 from spreading in long-term care facilities (LTCFs), the Dutch government took restrictive measures, including a visitor-ban in LTCFs. This study examined the relationship between involvement of family caregivers (FCs) of people with dementia (PwD) living in LTCFs and FCs mental health during the visitor-ban, and whether this relationship was moderated by the frequency of alternative contact with PwD during the visitor-ban and FC resilience. This cross-sectional study collected data from 958 FCs. FCs who visited PwD more frequently before, were more worried during the visitor-ban than those with lower visiting frequency. FCs who visited the PwD daily before, but had minimal weekly contact during the visitor-ban, worried less. Resilient FCs who did social and task-related activities before, experienced less loneliness during the visitor-ban. It is advisable for healthcare professionals to reach out to these groups, to facilitate ongoing contact and help them overcome their loneliness.