Adapting the Structured Life Review for People Living With Dementia: Implementation With Unpaid Older Adult Caregivers

Abstract

Little research has been conducted to designate an effective life review intervention that reduces caregiver burden and extends the physical and cognitive function of people living with dementia (PLWD). This paper reports on the re-design and implementation of an adapted structured life review intervention for caregivers to facilitate with PLWD. There were five phases in the planning and implementation of this modified intervention. These phases included a literature review, curriculum design and caregiver training, weekly life review sessions, weekly feasibility sessions, and an evaluation. In a pilot study, 19 dyads (PLWD and caregivers) were enrolled, and 17 dyads completed the re-designed life review intervention. The caregivers found that they wanted more time to learn about each other in the training class. Minimal assistance was needed during the fidelity sessions, which the caregivers completed on a weekly basis while they facilitated life reviews with their care recipients over six weeks. There were many positive outcomes to the re-designing of the structured life review; however, due to the small sample size, tests of statistical significance were not informative. Conducting this program with a larger sample size of PLWD and caregiver dyads is recommended.