Trial reportBMC health services research2019
Brief telephone counselling is effective for caregivers who do not experience any major life events - caregiver-related outcomes of the German day-care study.
Trial report in BMC health services research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- [How effective are non-pharmacological interventions for family caregivers? A systematic review with meta-analyses].Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany)) · 2025Pooled it
- Randomized controlled trials on promoting self-care behaviors among informal caregivers of older patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC geriatrics · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological interventions to improve mental wellbeing.Nature human behaviour · 2021Pooled it
- Remotely delivered information, training and support for informal caregivers of people with dementia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Long-Term Effects of a Cognitive Behavioral Conference Call Intervention on Depression in Non-Professional Caregivers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Trial
- Can brief telephone interventions reduce caregiver burden and depression in caregivers of people with cognitive impairment? - long-term results of the German day-care study (RCT).BMC geriatrics · 2019Trial
- From Overload to Understanding: How Caregivers Experience and Use Information in Dementia Counselling.Psychogeriatrics : the official journal of the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society · 2026Article
- Dementia and communication comorbidities within the context of caregiver support systems: a scoping review.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Programmes Addressed to Informal Caregivers' Needs: A Systematic Literature Review.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Predictors of expressed, felt, and normative needs for informal caregiver counseling : Domestic care for people aged 65+ years.Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie · 2023Article
- [Predictors of intensity of use of adult day care centers in people with cognitive impairment].Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie · 2022Article
- Relational counselling as a psychosocial intervention for dementia: Qualitative evidence from people living with dementia and family members.Dementia (London, England) · 2021Article
- Self-reported burden of caregiver of adults with depression: a cross-sectional study in five Western European countries.BMC psychiatry · 2021Observational
- A Logic Model for Evaluation and Planning in an Adult Day Care for Disabled Japanese Old People.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- An Italian pilot study of a psycho-social intervention to support family caregivers' engagement in taking care of patients with complex care needs: the Engage-in-Caring project.BMC health services research · 2019Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTo date, there has been a dearth of scientifically tested, established intervention concepts focussed on supporting informal caregivers and embedded in routine health care structures. The aim of this study was to assess effects of a brief telephone intervention for caregivers of persons with cognitive impairment (PCIs) on caregivers' depressiveness and subjective burden.
methodsA two-arm cluster-randomised controlled intervention study was carried out at 32 German day-care centres. During the six-month intervention period, informal caregivers in the intervention group (n = 205) received counselling in three phone calls focussed on stress reduction, development of self-management strategies, and how to deal with challenging behaviours. Both the control group (n = 154) and the intervention group were free to take part in any support programmes offered by the German Health Care System (TAU). Caregivers' subjective burden and depressiveness were measured with the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers - short version (BSFC-s) and the WHO-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Outcomes were assessed by means of computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATIs) at baseline and at the end of the six-month intervention phase. Multiple regression analyses were used to show the influence of group allocation.
resultsAfter the intervention phase, group allocation was not found to significantly predict caregivers' subjective burden or depressiveness. The baseline scores (p < 0.001) were the only significant predictors of change in both outcomes. However, sensitivity analyses for caregivers who did not experience any events that they felt were major (in a negative or positive sense) during the six months (n = 271) showed that group allocation (p < 0.05) was a significant predictor of positive change in both outcomes (BSFC-s: Δ-1.3, [- 2.4, - 0.3], Cohen's d = 0.27; WHO-5: Δ1.5, [0.4, 2.7], Cohen's d = 0.26). Effect sizes were highest in the subgroup of caregivers of people with mild dementia (BSFC-s: Cohen's d = 0.43; WHO-5: Cohen's d = 0.42).
conclusionsA "low-dose" psychoeducative telephone intervention designed to empower caregivers is effective, especially in an early stage, if the overlap between the effect of the intervention and the effect of events that are experienced as major events in the caregiver's life is considered.
trial registrationIdentifier: ISRCTN16412551 (Registration date: 30 July 2014, registered retrospectively).
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