Feasibility and Effect Sizes of the Revised Daily Engagement of Meaningful Activities Intervention for Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Their Caregivers

• Published in: Journal of gerontological nursing Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 45 - 58
• Main Authors: Lu, Yvonne Yueh-Feng, Bakas, Tamilyn, Yang, Ziyi, Weaver, Michael T, Austrom, Mary Guerriero, Haase, Joan E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States SLACK INCORPORATED 01.03.2016
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Caregivers; Cognitive Dysfunction - nursing; Cognitive Dysfunction - psychology; Dementia; Elder care; Feasibility Studies; Female; Humans; Intervention; Male; Pilot Projects; Practice Patterns, Nurses; Quality of Life; United States > US
• ISSN: 0098-9134; 1938-243X
• DOI: 10.3928/00989134-20160212-08

A nurse-led intervention, Daily Engagement of Meaningful Activities (DEMA), was evaluated for feasibility and effect sizes in a two-group randomized pilot study with 36 patient-caregiver dyads (17 DEMA and 19 attention control). Effect sizes were estimated on 10 outcomes: dyad functional ability awareness congruence; patients' meaningful activity performance and satisfaction, confidence, depressive symptoms, communication satisfaction, physical function, and life satisfaction; and caregivers' depressive symptoms and life changes. High feasibility of DEMA was supported by the following indicators: consent (97.7%), session completion (91.7%), and Time 3 measure completion (97.2%). Compared to the attention control group, the DEMA group had higher dyad congruence in functional ability awareness and life satisfaction 3 months post-intervention and improved physical function at 2 weeks post-intervention. Although DEMA showed high feasibility and benefits on some health-related outcomes, further testing of DEMA in a larger randomized controlled clinical trial is needed.