Telehealth Assessment and Skill-Building Intervention for Stroke Caregivers (TASK III)

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R01 · $592,210 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract: Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability, and has a very sudden onset. Families are often thrust into providing care without sufficient training from health care providers, having to learn on their own to provide care. Studies show that caregiving without proper training can be detrimental to caregiver’s physical and mental health, which can impede survivor rehabilitation and lead to institutionalization and higher societal costs. Unlike existing stroke caregiver interventions, which require costly face-to-face interactions, and that focus primarily on the survivor’s care, the nurse-led Telephone Assessment and Skill-Building Kit (TASK II) is delivered completely by telephone, and empowers caregivers to address both their own and the survivor’s needs using innovative skill-building strategies. Aligned with current patient and caregiver guidelines, TASK II demonstrated evidence of content validity, treatment fidelity, caregiver satisfaction, and efficacy for reducing caregiver depressive symptoms; however, TASK II revealed a need for a stronger focus on self-management (SM) strategies to improve caregiver symptoms and health, along with enhanced use of other telehealth modes of delivery. In an NINR-funded R21, the Telehealth Assessment and Skill-building Kit (TASK III) was optimized through the innovative leveraging of technologies and SM strategies to improve stroke family caregiver symptoms and health. A new goal setting tip sheet promotes caregivers’ self-management of their own symptoms and health through the use of novel skill-building strategies. Caregivers now choose how they want to access the TASK III Resource Guide (mailed hard copy, eBook, USB drive, or interactive website (https://www.task3web.com/) and how they would like to interact with the nurse (telephone, FaceTime, or online videoconferencing). Preliminary TASK III data provided evidence for feasibility of recruitment, retention, treatment fidelity, high satisfaction, and positive data trends in 74 stroke family caregivers randomized to TASK III (n=36) or to an Information, Support, and Referral (ISR) group (n=38). The purpose of the proposed study is to test short-term (immediately post-intervention at 8 weeks) and long-term (12, 24, and 52 weeks) efficacy of the TASK III intervention, compared with the ISR group, in 296 stroke caregivers. The primary outcome is caregiver life changes (i.e., physical health, physical functioning, emotional well-being, general health) as a result of providing care. Secondary outcomes include depressive symptoms (in caregivers with mild to severe depressive symptoms), other symptoms (stress, fatigue, sleep, pain, shortness of breath), unhealthy days, SM of diet/exercise, and self-reported healthcare utilization. Theoretically-based mediators include task difficulty, threat appraisal, and self-efficacy. Program evaluation outcomes (satisfaction, technology ratings) will also be analyzed. If TASK III is sh...

Key facts

NIH application ID
10763894
Project number
5R01NR020184-03
Recipient
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Principal Investigator
TAMILYN BAKAS
Activity code
R01
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2024
Award amount
$592,210
Award type
5
Project period
2022-04-12 → 2027-01-31