Grant: Project Grant

Approximately 25,000 Canadians receive a diagnosis of dementia each year. Within the context of an aging population and an emerging "aging at home" culture, the number of family caregivers who provide ongoing care and assistance to a loved on with a neurodegenerative disease is increasing. Caregivers who experience distress are at increased risk of developing stress-related disorders, including depression and cognitive impairment, which may compromise their ability to fulfill their caregiving duties. Existing caregiver programs have been characterized as uncoordinated and non-standardized. Mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) show promise in alleviating stress-related ailments including depression and chronic pain. Work by the NPA shows that MBI may be beneficial for older family caregivers of persons with dementia. The next phase in this research endeavor is to examine benefits associated with a tailored caregiver MBI program (C-MBI), and to determine whether C-MBI can enhance resilience, measured by improvements in psychological wellbeing, cognitive health, and biological indices of stress. The research team brings together expertise in the area of aging, stress physiology, mindfulness, cognitive aging, randomized controlled methodology and qualitative research. Family caregivers, aged 50+ years will be recruited and assigned to a C-MBI program, a psychoeducation program (PSY) or a respite-only group (RC). Compared with RC and PSY, C-MBI is expected to result in greater post-treatment improvements in self-reported distress, biological stress, and executive functioning. This study will contribute to improving the welfare of family caregivers who are considered a hidden patient population, and will contribute to the development of standardized programming targeted for family caregivers, to promote resilience while caring for a loved one.