Trial reportBMC health services research2022
Telephone-based aftercare groups for family carers of people with dementia - results of the effect evaluation of a randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in BMC health services research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Telephone Interventions for the Management of Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia in the Community: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- [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
- Completeness of Telehealth Interventions Reporting in Randomized Controlled Trials for Caregivers of People With Dementia: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Telephone-based aftercare groups for family carers of people with dementia - results of a mixed-methods process evaluation of a randomized controlled trial.BMC health services research · 2023Trial
- Social support interventions for caregivers of older adults with dementia: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2025Article
- [Effects of a One-Week Inpatient Health Programme for Family Caregivers and Persons in Need of Care (SVLFG Care Tandem) - A Quasi-Experimental Study].Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany)) · 2025Article
- What works to support carers of older people and older carers? an international evidence map of interventions and outcomes.BMC geriatrics · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe care of people with dementia is associated with enormous stress and, in a quarter of cases, leads to depression and anxiety disorders in the caring relatives. A specially designed inpatient psychosomatic rehabilitation (rehab) programme for family carers of people with dementia has proven to be effective but not sustainable. Therefore, the present study aims to increase the sustainability of the inpatient rehab programme by using thematically structured telephone aftercare group sessions.
methodsThe effectiveness of telephone aftercare groups was investigated in a randomized, controlled, prospective, mixed methods, longitudinal study. The aftercare intervention included social participation in monthly telephone group sessions for 6 months. The primary outcome was increased social participation of family carers, which, like the secondary outcomes (such as quality of life and subjective health), was assessed in written surveys at three or four measurement points.
resultsComplete data from 69 participants from the intervention group and from 72 participants from the control group could be evaluated. A small-sized reduction in restrictions on social participation was observed in the intervention group, whereas the reduction in the control group was negligible. The repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed sustained effects on the secondary outcomes, such as depression, perceived social support, and the mental health domain of quality of life of family carers, in favour of the intervention group. The results also showed that telephone-based aftercare groups had a rather minor influence on the use of support services. Except for those from family, friends and neighbours, existing support offers were hardly used.
conclusionTelephone aftercare group sessions for carers of people with dementia were not able to increase social participation at the expected magnitude. Nevertheless, the clear effects on selected secondary health-related outcomes and the assessment of the telephone-based group sessions by the participants show that the caring relatives were able to benefit greatly from this aftercare measure. Family carers should be informed more extensively about the corresponding resources and encouraged to use them. Overall, this new aftercare concept can be recommended for implementation, and its use also seems to be target-oriented for other indications. CLINICAL
trial registrationGerman Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00013736 , 14/05/2018.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.