# Style and Substance: Characterizing Dementia Caregiving Styles and   Associated Biopsychosocial and Health Services Utilization Outcomes

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $128,520

## Abstract

As the number of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of age-related dementia is increasing, millions of
adults in the United States are taking on the role of caregiver for these individuals. Extending beyond existing work
within the Stress Process Model, this work aims to identify caregivers at highest risk for negative psychological and
physiological outcomes and increased health services utilization, by considering the understudied area of dementia
caregiving styles. Dementia caregiving style may be defined by cognitive beliefs, readiness to change, and behavioral
strategies toward dementia management. This mentored career development award aims to combine a program of focused
research, mentorship, and didactics to enable the candidate's growth toward a long-term goal of becoming an independent
researcher focused on the delineation of factors associated with the mental health and health outcomes of dementia
caregivers, and developing and disseminating interventions targeted toward unique caregiving styles. Aims of the
proposed training plan are to: 1) gain exposure to care challenges for persons with dementia and their families through
observation of clinical encounters; 2) increase methodological knowledge of biomarker collection, assays, and statistical
methodology, and latent class analysis; and 3) acquire skills to develop, implement, and evaluate future behavioral
interventions utilizing the caregiving styles advanced during the proposal. The training objectives seek to develop the
candidate's potential as a geriatric mental health services researcher and align closely with the research aims to: 1)
characterize caregiving-style typologies through the mixed-methods assessment of dementia caregivers on cognitive
beliefs, readiness to change, and behavioral strategies toward dementia management. Semi-structured qualitative
interviews and latent-class analysis will be used to determine how these measures cluster within distinct caregiving styles.
2) Define high-risk groups of caregivers by the association of biomarkers of the stress process, psychological well-being,
and health services utilization with caregiving styles. 3) Finally, an exploratory aim will consider the mutability of
caregiving styles over 6 months. The expected results would significantly increase understanding of high-risk groups of
caregivers which would benefit from interventions tailored toward these distinct caregiving styles, thereby improving
outcomes for both people with age-related dementia and their caregivers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10217955
- **Project number:** 5K01AG056557-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Amanda Noel Leggett
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $128,520
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10217955

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10217955, Style and Substance: Characterizing Dementia Caregiving Styles and   Associated Biopsychosocial and Health Services Utilization Outcomes (5K01AG056557-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10217955. Licensed CC0.

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