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The Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH): project design and baseline characteristics
Wisniewski SR, Belle SH, Coon DW, Marcus SM, Ory MG, Burgio LD, Burns R, Schulz R et al.. Psychology and aging, 2003-09-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
The Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Cargiver Health (REACH) project was designed to test promising interventions for enhancing family caregiving for persons with dementia. The purpose of this article is to describe the research design, interventions, and outcome measures used in REACH and to characterize the sample recruited for the study. Nine interventions and 2 control conditions were implemented at 6 sites; 1,222 dyads were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control condition. The caregiver sample was 18.6% male with an average age of 62.3 years (56% Caucasian, 24% Black, and 19% Hispanic). Caregivers reported high levels of depressive symptoms and moderate burden. Care recipients were older, with a mean age of 79, and were moderately to severely impaired with mean Mini-Mental State Exam scores of 13/30.
Key findings
- The purpose of this article is to describe the research design, interventions, and outcome measures used in REACH and to characterize the sample recruited for the study.
- Nine interventions and 2 control conditions were implemented at 6 sites; 1,222 dyads were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control condition.
- The caregiver sample was 18.6% male with an average age of 62.3 years (56% Caucasian, 24% Black, and 19% Hispanic).
- Caregivers reported high levels of depressive symptoms and moderate burden.
- Care recipients were older, with a mean age of 79, and were moderately to severely impaired with mean Mini-Mental State Exam scores of 13/30.
Why it matters
This article describes the design of the REACH project, which tested nine interventions and two control conditions in 1,222 caregiver/care recipient dyads at six sites. It characterizes the sample rather than reporting intervention outcomes.
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Study details
- Effect size18.6%
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 52/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design and sample size because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Psychology and aging) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Psychology and Aging: journal h-index 243 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2003 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (pubmed indexes it as a clinical or observational study) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 226 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 9.0 citations a year over 25 year(s) since 2003 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 8.4× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 3 / 6 | Cited by 13 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 12 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Richard Schulz: h-index 116 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | University of Pittsburgh: institution h-index 1,470 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 5 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 14518801) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 52 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Wisniewski, SR., Belle, S. H., Coon, D. W., Marcus, S. M., Ory, M. G., Burgio, L. D., et al. (2003). The Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH): project design and baseline characteristics. Psychology and aging. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.18.3.375
Vancouver
Wisniewski SR, Belle SH, Coon DW, Marcus SM, Ory MG, Burgio LD, et al. The Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH): project design and baseline characteristics. Psychology and aging. 2003. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.18.3.375. PMID: 14518801.
BibTeX
@article{wisniewski2003-14518801,
author = {Wisniewski, SR. and Belle, S. H. and Coon, D. W. and Marcus, S. M. and Ory, M. G. and Burgio, L. D. and Burns, R. and Schulz, R. and others},
title = {{The Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH): project design and baseline characteristics}},
journal = {Psychology and aging},
year = {2003},
doi = {10.1037/0882-7974.18.3.375},
pmid = {14518801},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.18.3.375}
}
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