Improving Care Through Improv: Promoting Mastery in the Moment

The goals of this clinical trial are to: 1) refine the training program, "Improving Care though Improv;" and 2) test the program for its influence self-perceived caregiving mastery (i.e., how persons assess their ability to provide care) among informal caregivers of persons living with moderate dementia. Forty informal caregivers will be involved in testing the training program. These individuals will be assigned to groups of between 8 to12 caregivers and take part in weekly 2-hour sessions held over a 4-week period. These caregivers will be taught improvisational (improv) theater skills, which involves being in the moment, self-awareness, and responsiveness to others. This group also will be asked to answer surveys questions about themselves and the person receiving care at three timepoints and invited to provide feedback on their training experiences.

Participants will receive the training program, "Improving Care through Improv." This involves four weekly 2-hour in-person training sessions.

This intervention for informal caregivers consists of training that will introduce participants to improvisational (improv) theatre and teach its core communication skills.

4-item Likert-type scale; scores range from 4 to 16 with higher scores indicating greater feelings of competence.

20-item Likert-type scale. Scores range from 0 to 60 with higher scores indicating greater depression.

22-item scale with 4-point Likert scale responses. Scores range from 0 to 88 with higher scores indicating greater burden.

24-item scale with 4-point Likert scale responses. Scores range from 0 to 96 with higher scores indicating greater behavioral expressions observed by caregivers among persons living with dementia.

13 items with a 4-point Likert scale. Scores range from 13 to with 52 with higher scores indicating greater quality of life among persons living with dementia

Inclusion Criteria: Actively engaged in the care of community-dwelling persons living with moderate dementia (4 or 5 on a 7-point dementia-staging scale) who is not likely to be institutionalized within the next 6 months Able to attend at least 3 of the 4 in-person sessions Ability to communicate in English

Data from this study will be made available to qualified researchers through a data sharing agreement that is consistent with NIH data sharing policies, as well as policies and practices established by the Roybal Center for Dementia Caregiving Mastery at Emory University. The data to be collected include common data elements, including the Caregiver Mastery Scale developed by Pearlin and colleagues, as well as demographic characteristics. Although these data will be de-identified prior to release for sharing, there remains a possibility of deductive disclosure of participants with unusual characteristics. Therefore, this data sharing agreement will require: 1) a commitment only to use the data for research purposes and not to identify any individual participant; 2) a commitment to securing the data using appropriate computer technology; and 3) a commitment to destroy or return the data after analyses are completed.

Study data will be made available no later than the on-line publication date of the main findings from the final dataset.

Researchers must qualify and enter into a data sharing agreement. The agreement requires: 1) a commitment only to use the data for research purposes and not to identify any individual participant; 2) a commitment to securing the data using appropriate computer technology; and 3) a commitment to destroy or return the data after analyses are completed.