# A Problem Solving Intervention for Hospice Caregivers

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $276,396

## Abstract

Abstract
In recent years, the demand for hospice care has increased significantly, and is now provided to
over 1.5 million terminally ill Americans annually. In 2017 18% of all people admitted to hospice
in the US had a primary hospice diagnosis of dementia and more than one third of them had a
primary diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease or related dementia (ADRD). An essential component
of hospice care services includes the informal caregivers, i.e., family members, spouses, friends
or others who assume the caregiving role for a loved one at the end of life (hereafter referred to
as simply caregivers). Caregivers of ADRD patients face particularly stressful demands
associated with the extended length of care, potential behavioral problems common in late-
stage dementia, and the extreme impairment and debilitation of patients with end-stage ADRD.
More than half of caregivers of patients with end stage dementia have to end or reduce
employment and exhibit very high levels of depressive symptoms. Interventions to provide
support and facilitate coping during the end stages of ADRD, and efforts to understand how
socio-demographic factors and social support may elucidate the effectiveness of such efforts,
are notably lacking. We are currently testing a problem-solving therapy intervention entitled
PISCES (Problem Solving Intervention to Support Caregivers in End of Life Care Settings)
aiming to assess whether a hybrid platform for its delivery combining in-person and video-
conferencing sessions can be as effective as the in-person delivery of the intervention. While
this work involves all hospice caregivers, a significant sample portion (almost one third) includes
caregivers of ADRD patients. Given their unique experiences we recognize the need to study
this population in greater detail. The specific aims of this administrative supplement proposal
are to understand the unique characteristics and needs of caregivers of hospice patients with
ADRD, explore how socio-demographic factors, social support and caregiver type (based on a
communication typology) affect the overall hospice experience specifically for caregivers of
ADRD patients, and refine and tailor the PISCES intervention jointly with caregivers of patients
with ADRD to specifically address their needs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10121001
- **Project number:** 3R01NR012213-07S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** George Demiris
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $276,396
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2011-04-11 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10121001

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10121001, A Problem Solving Intervention for Hospice Caregivers (3R01NR012213-07S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10121001. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*