ĐÁNH GIÁ TÍNH KHẢ THI CỦA VIỆC CUNG CẤP KIẾN THỨC CHĂM SÓC BỆNH NHÂN CAO TUỔI SA SÚT TRÍ TUỆ CHO NGƯỜI CHĂM SÓC BẰNG ỨNG DỤNG ĐIỆN THOẠI ZALO LÊN THAY ĐỔI THANG ĐIỂM DASS-21

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Caregivers of older patients with dementia face several psychological burdens such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Psychological education is a popular intervention to provide patient care skills as well as behavioral and emotional management. Providing care knowledge based on mobile phones is a new approach to supporting caregivers of older patients with dementia. Objectives: to evaluate the feasibility of providing care knowledge for caregivers of older patients with dementia via the Zalo app. Methods: a pilot study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the intervention in the intervention group and control group (1:1 ratio) at the Department of Geriatrics at Gia Dinh People’s Hospital from December 2021 to June 2022. Of 80 caregivers participated in the study for 3 months. The rates of recruitment, retention, and adherence were collected. Results: 146 caregivers of older patients with dementia were screened but 80 caregivers agreed to participate in the study. The participation rate was 54.79% and the retention rate was 92.50%. The rate of adherence in the intervention group was 40.54%. The median scores of depression, anxiety, and stress decreased significantly postintervention (p < 0.05). At 2 months postintervention, the median scores of anxiety and stress were significantly lower in the intervention group compared to those in the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Providing care knowledge for caregivers of older people with dementia via the Zalo app was feasible, which improved the scores of depression, anxiety, and stress in the intervention group. This is the first step to conducting a larger-scale study on caregivers of older people with dementia