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Improving Caregiver Well-Being Delays Nursing Home Placement of Patients With Alzheimer Disease
Mittelman MS, Haley WE, Clay OJ, Roth DL. Neurology, 2006-11-14
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
This randomized trial of 406 spouse caregivers of people with Alzheimer's tested whether counseling and support (six counseling sessions, mandatory support groups, and on-call phone counseling) could delay nursing home placement. It found that caregivers who received the program kept their spouse at home significantly longer than those who received usual care.
Key findings
- Spouses of caregivers who received the intervention had a 28.3% lower rate of nursing home placement than usual-care controls (hazard ratio 0.717, p=0.025)
- Median time to nursing home placement was 557 days longer (model-predicted) in the intervention group
- Improvements in caregivers' social support satisfaction, response to behavior problems, and depression symptoms together explained 61.2% of the intervention's effect on delaying placement
Why it matters
Spouse caregivers who received counseling and support kept their partners at home significantly longer, with a 28.3% lower rate of nursing home placement. This shows a caregiver support program can delay nursing home placement for people with Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Study designRCT
- Participants406
- Effect sizeHR 0.717 for nursing home placement; median time to placement 557 days longer (model-predicted) in the intervention group
- Evidence strengthHigh
Limitations
Single-site (NYU) sample of spousal caregivers only, which may not generalize to non-spousal caregivers.
How this study scored 73/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a randomised controlled trial. Scored zero for indexed in PubMed because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multi-centre collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 45 of the 62 points we could judge it on, which is 73 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2006 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 406 participants |
| Effect reported | 3 / 3 | Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 0 / 2 | No PubMed ID and no DOI — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 45 / 62 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 45 of the 62 points we could judge it on is 73 out of 100. |
| Total | 73 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. This record has no DOI, so the citation leaves it out. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Mittelman, M. S., Haley, W. E., Clay, O. J., & Roth, D. L. (2006). Improving Caregiver Well-Being Delays Nursing Home Placement of Patients With Alzheimer Disease. Neurology.
Vancouver
Mittelman MS, Haley WE, Clay OJ, Roth DL. Improving Caregiver Well-Being Delays Nursing Home Placement of Patients With Alzheimer Disease. Neurology. 2006. PMID: 17101889.
BibTeX
@article{mittelman2006-b972b154,
author = {Mittelman, M. S. and Haley, W. E. and Clay, O. J. and Roth, D. L.},
title = {{Improving Caregiver Well-Being Delays Nursing Home Placement of Patients With Alzheimer Disease}},
journal = {Neurology},
year = {2006},
pmid = {17101889}
}
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