[The effect of telecommunication(with Skype)to improve a cognitive function for elderly patients with dementia and to reduce a care burden for their care givers].

We conducted an intervention study to clarify how effectively videophone(Skype)was used in the communication for elderly patients with dementia being cared at home and their caregivers. For a period of 12 weeks, a patient-caregiver pair(n =8)communicated with a nurse via computer for 30 minutes once a week. The patient and caregiver worked as a pair. Before and after 12-week study period started, the intervention and control group(n=8)patients were assessed on cognitive scale(HDS-R), ADL, care burden scale(J-ZBI_8)and hours of sleep for caregivers. The result on the 12th week showed a significant improvement in hours of sleep on the intervention group of caregivers, and signs of improvement on the intervention group of patients in HDS-R. According to a questionnaire survey for caregivers, many of them said that a videophone communication was a pleasant experience for the family, and it is also useful for information gathering. Therefore, we think that the videophone communication is useful for a cognitive rehab work and giving good feelings for the patient. It also gives a good satisfaction for the family. Furthermore, a patient who had an intervention for 3 times in 2 years showed a sign of improvements in the cognitive function and care burden scale during the intervention period. However, the score dropped for several months. Therefore, it is important that a continuous intervention is necessary.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes