The Balance Study Balancing Life and Reducing Stress For Those Providing Elder Care

Stress Reduction for Caregivers: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

The primary goals of this exploratory/developmental (R21) study are to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a MBSR intervention for caregivers of patients with dementia, and to estimate the effectiveness of program outcomes on standardized measures of perceived stress, psychological distress and caregiver burden. We will randomize 60 caregivers 1:1 to participate in: 1.) an intervention arm consisting of a MBSR program that includes 8 weeks of group instruction in mindfulness meditation techniques followed by home practice, or 2.) an active control arm consisting of a standard 8 week Community Caregiver Education and Support (CESS) program.

We anticipate that caregivers will be interested in participating in the intervention, be open to randomization, and have good rates of compliance with the program. It is also expected that MBSR program participants will evidence a trend toward better outcomes than CESS participants on primary outcome measures of perceived stress, psychological distress and perceived caregiver burden.

Substudy The purpose of this proposal is to add a physiologic outcome sub-study to the Balance project that will examine four biological markers correlated with stress in caregivers participating in the study intervention. The Balance Study is a recently funded NIH randomized controlled pilot study to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention for caregivers of patients with dementia. Balance is randomizing caregivers (N=60) into equal numbers to participate in either an intervention arm consisting of a MBSR program that includes eight weeks of group instruction in mindfulness meditation techniques followed by home practice or an active control arm consisting of a standard eight week community Caregiver Education and Social Support (CESS) program. The specific aims of this study are to: 1) evaluate the feasibility of adding physiologic markers to the Balance Study; 2) examine changes over time in individual study participants on four biological markers correlated with stress including interleukin 6 (IL-6), D-dimer, DHEA-S and telomere length; and 3) to examine preliminary differences between MBSR and CESS groups on four biological markers. The addition of physiologic outcomes to the Balance Study presents an emerging opportunity to increase the competitiveness for our NIH R01 application.

Inclusion Criteria:

• adult, 21 or older
• caregiver for a community dwelling patient with dementia
• English speaking
• literate - able to read course materials
• mentally intact with no history of mental illness
• reachable by phone
• able to attend weekly classes in the Bloomington area
• interested in either type of program (psycho-educational/mind-body intervention)
• willing to complete an informed consent process
• willing to be randomized and participate in one of two interventions
• experiencing significant stress (scale of 1-10 score of 5 or higher)

Exclusion Criteria:

• have previously participated in a community caregiver education and support group
• have previously completed formal training in other mind body practices such as meditation, yoga, or tai chi, or who are currently practicing
• are regularly practicing mindfulness meditation
• express uncertainty that they can attend the intervention on a regular basis
• not experiencing significant stress