Caregiver active participation in psychoeducational intervention improved caregiving skills and competency.

Aim: To determine whether giving dementia caregivers active psychoeducational intervention is more efficacious than passive intervention for improving their caregiving skills and reducing their caregiving burden.

Methods: This study was a prospective, single-blinded, controlled trial with 43 caregiver/person-with-dementia dyads. The dyads were randomly assigned to the active psychoeducational intervention (AP) group, which used role-play, discussion, and development of problem-solving capacity to build up their caregiving skills and competence, or the passive psychoeducational intervention (PP) group, which gave caregivers educational materials on common caregiving strategies.

Detection of cognitive impairment using self-rated AD8 and informant-reported AD8.

Background/purpose: Screening of dementia can help to initiate proper management of the disorder. The use of the Ascertain Dementia 8-item Questionnaire (AD8) in screening has been promoted in Taiwan recently. The purpose of this study was to compare the psychometric properties and appropriateness of informant-reported and self-rated AD8 in cognitive impairment screening in Taiwan.