Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42907949›Full record

Trial reportBMC geriatrics2026

Feasibility of a multidimensional interdisciplinary rehabilitation program for people with dementia and their informal primary caregivers - a randomized pilot trial with a caregiver focus.

Mia Conradsson, Birgitta Olofsson, Henrik Holmberg, Nina Lindelöf, Ingeborg Nilsson, Yngve Gustafson, Håkan Littbrand

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC geriatrics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Mia ConradssonDepartment of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. mia.conradsson@umu.se.
Birgitta OlofssonDepartment of Nursing, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Henrik HolmbergDepartment of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Nina LindelöfDepartment of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Ingeborg NilssonDepartment of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Yngve GustafsonDepartment of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Håkan LittbrandDepartment of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.

Funding

FORTE: the Swedish Research Council for Health Working and Welfare Grant number 2014 - 0897
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTo improve the situation of informal caregivers, both supportive efforts for caregiver and rehabilitation for the person with dementia, may be needed. This randomized controlled pilot trial evaluated, among caregivers, the feasibility of a person-centred multidimensional interdisciplinary rehabilitation program for community-dwelling people with dementia that incorporated an education and support intervention for informal caregivers.

methodsInformal caregivers were randomized alongside the person with dementia to an intervention group (n=36) or usual care (n=31). Multiprofessional team rehabilitation for individuals with dementia and support for caregivers, were offered for one 20-week and two 4-week follow-up periods after 5 and 14 months. Caregivers were offered assessments, participation in group sessions, and individual support. After the last group session, scheduled during the last four weeks of the 20-week period, a survey was distributed. Attendance at group sessions and uptake of individual support were recorded. Blinded assessments of caregiver burden (Caregiver Burden Scale, CBS), depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale 15-item version, GDS) and health-related quality of life (Short Form 36-Health Survey, SF-36), were performed at baseline and after 5, 12, 24, and 36 months.

resultsThirty-seven participants (56%) were spouses and 26 (39%) were adult children. Participation rate in assessments of outcomes at 36 months was 100% and 87% for intervention and control group in GDS and SF-36, respectively, and 69% and 61% for CBS, respectively. Missing data were primarily due to mortality. All caregivers in the intervention group (n=36) were assessed, and all received individual interventions by team staff. Twenty-three caregivers attended group sessions, and 21 completed a survey after the last session. Twenty (95%) caregivers reported increased knowledge about supporting the person with dementia, and 19 (90%) improved coping strategies. No significant differences were observed between groups in depressive symptoms or caregiver burden, yet differences in favour of the control group were seen in subscales of health-related quality of life at 24 and 36 months.

conclusionsThe program, combining rehabilitation for the person with dementia with caregiver support, seems feasible regarding caregivers' participation in the intervention and study evaluation, and thus further evaluation in an adequately powered randomized controlled trial seems relevant. A future definitive trial should evaluate continuous support over a longer period adapted to the caregiver and refine assessment procedures, including conducting assessments during ongoing interventions to provide greater insights into rehabilitation and caregiver-support effects.

trial registrationThe study protocol is published online 04/11/2015 at http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN59155421.

Indexed as

CaregiversDementiaPatient Care TeamAgedAged, 80 and overFeasibility StudiesFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansMaleMiddle AgedPilot ProjectsQuality of LifeCaregiver burdenCognition disordersDepressionIntervention studyQuality of life

Identifiers

PMID42907949
PMCPMC13688808

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.