# Dementia Caregiver Chronic Grief Management: A Live Online Video Intervention

> **NIH NIH R01** · RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $458,189

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia (ADRD) family caregivers suffer long-term mental and physical
health effects that place them at risk for premature death and can affect them even after placing a family
member with ADRD in long-term care (LTC). In fact, these caregivers experience increased symptoms of
depression and anxiety, and chronic grief post-placement. In the LTC environment, caregivers’ chronic grief is
exacerbated by their lack of knowledge about late-stage ADRD and their sense of loss, guilt, and role captivity.
Interventions to improve of ADRD caregivers’ mental health have focused overwhelmingly on in-home care.
We tested a Chronic Grief Management Intervention (CGMI) with ADRD caregivers in LTC and found it
feasible (recruitment, retention, and attendance). The CGMI had significant effects on caregiver knowledge
and mental health outcomes (sadness/longing and guilt; aspects of chronic grief). Although they reported high
satisfaction with this intervention, caregivers found the 12 face-to-face group sessions time-consuming.
Therefore, we reduced the number of sessions to 8 and adapted the CGMI to be delivered as a live streaming
video, online group intervention (CGMI-V), using Adobe Connect and iPads. We tested CGMI-V in a single
group feasibility pilot study (recruitment, retention, attendance and technology use) with ADRD caregivers
post-placement. We had 100% retention with high caregiver satisfaction with the online delivery method. Our
proposed study, Chronic Grief Management: A Live Streaming Video, Online Intervention builds on these
results and is guided by a Model of Dementia Caregiver Chronic Grief in the Long-Term Care Setting. The
purpose of this study is to test the effects of the 8-week CGMI-V on a caregiver primary outcome (chronic grief)
and two secondary outcomes (mental health and facility-related outcomes), related to a minimal treatment
(MT) control group. We propose to test the CGMI-V in a Stage I longitudinal, randomized clinical trial. 144
ADRD caregivers whose family members reside in LTC facilities will be randomly assigned to either the CGMI-
V or MT condition. Caregivers in the CGMI-V condition will participate in 8 weekly online group sessions.
Caregivers in the MT condition will receive written information about late-stage ADRD at baseline. For both
conditions, data will be collected at baseline, 8 weeks, and then at 24 weeks post-baseline. Specific aims are
to: 1) Establish effect sizes (ES) of the CGMI-V condition and MT control condition on changes in caregiver
chronic grief. 2) Establish ES of the CGMI-V condition and MT control condition on changes in caregiver
symptoms of depression and anxiety and on positive states of mind. 3) Establish ES of the CGMI-V condition
and the MT control condition on changes in caregiver satisfaction with care provided in the facility and conflict
with staff, and 4) Explore mechanisms of intervention impact on all caregiver outcomes. Our ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9935963
- **Project number:** 5R01AG056393-03
- **Recipient organization:** RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Olimpia Paun
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $458,189
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-15 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9935963

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9935963, Dementia Caregiver Chronic Grief Management: A Live Online Video Intervention (5R01AG056393-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9935963. Licensed CC0.

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