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Internet-based clinical services virtual support groups for family caregivers
- Authors:
- MARZIALI Elsa, DAMIANAKIS Thecla, DONAHUE Peter
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Technology in Human Services, 24(2/3), 2006, pp.39-54.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
An internet-based psychotherapeutic support group intervention for family caregivers of persons with neurodegenerative diseases was developed in a series of pilot studies and subsequently evaluated in a feasibility study with 34 participants. The aim was to duplicate online group interactions typical of face-to-face support groups. A user-friendly web site was developed according to usability criteria use for older adult users. Unique features of the web site included video conferencing in two formats, one-on-one and a group format with up to 6 participants and a facilitator. Following ten professionally facilitated sessions, each group evolved into a web-based self-help support group facilitated online by a group member. Qualitative analyses of early, middle and late group video conferencing sessions yielded themes congruent with face-to-face group process. Follow up interviews six months following the initiation of the online groups showed overall positive participant responses in each of the following areas: learning to use computers, negotiating the web site links, obtaining disease-specific information from the website, using technology to communicate, bonding with group members, providing mutual guidance and support, and benefiting in terms of coping with the stresses of caregiving. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Caring for others: internet video-conferencing group intervention for family caregivers of older adults with neurodegenerative disease
- Authors:
- MARZIALI Elsa, DONAHUE Peter
- Journal article citation:
- Gerontologist, 46(3), June 2006, pp.398-403.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This Canadian pilot feasibility study aimed to evaluate the effects of an innovative, Internet-based psychosocial intervention for family caregivers of older adults with neurodegenerative disease. Sixty six caregivers were randomly assigned to an Internet-based intervention or to a no-intervention control group. The intervention group received computers and training in order to access a password-protected Web site with links to information, e-mail, and threaded discussion. Unique to the Web site was a video-conferencing link that supported caregivers' participation in a 10-session, manual-guided psychosocial support group, followed by 12 additional online sessions facilitated by a group member. Participants completed health-status and stress-response measures at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Content analysis of archived video sessions showed (a) reliable adherence to the manual-guided support-group intervention and (b) online group discussion themes similar to those in face-to-face caregiver support groups. Analyses of stress-response outcome data showed significant between-group differences, with the intervention group experiencing a decline in stress compared with an escalation in stress for the control group. Implications: Despite the limitations of this pilot study in terms of limited sample size and 54% dropout of control participants at 6-month follow-up, the results provide preliminary supportive evidence for a technology-based psychosocial intervention for family caregivers of individuals with neurodegenerative disease.