Effectiveness of an educational program for demented personʹs relatives

Summary tudy investigates the effectiveness of an educational program provided to relatives of demented patients with moderate-severe behavioral disturbances, expressed by the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) score greater than 14. The sample consisted of 23 subjects caring for the demented patients at home (12 of them participating in a 6-session educational program, and 11 of them served as matched controls). Measures of stress, depression, quality of life and knowledge of the disease of these caregivers have been evaluated before the first session of the educational intervention, after the final one and 3 months after the end of the intervention period. Caregivers in the experimental group showed a significant improvement on knowledge regarding dementia (p < 0.005) and, 3 months after the end of the program, a significant reduction of their level of stress associated with patientʹs behavioral disturbances (p < 0.05).