Learning to PERSEVERE: Peer Mentor Support and Caregiver Education in Lewy Body Dementia

Learning to PERSEVERE: Peer Mentor Support and Caregiver Education in Lewy Body Dementia

The investigators propose to adapt, improve, and implement a peer mentor support and caregiver education (PERSEVERE) program to improve LBD-specific caregiving mastery. Lewy body dementia (LBD) is the second most common dementia, comprising Parkinson's Disease (PD) dementia and Dementia with Lewy Bodies. LBD causes deterioration in multiple cognitive, motor, and neuropsychiatric domains, leading to heavy reliance on family caregivers. Patients with LBD are at a far greater risk of hospitalizations for falls, neuro-psychiatric symptoms, and infections, which are often preventable or treatable at home if recognized. Studies cite a crucial need for education and support of LBD caregivers, who face high rates of caregiver strain and adverse outcomes. Evidence from other chronic conditions supports peer mentoring as a potentially effective intervention to provide education and social support. PERSEVERE builds on our team's ongoing work of creating and testing a peer mentoring program for homebound PD patients' caregivers that has shown promising feasibility and acceptability. In the proposed project, the investigators will convene focus groups of former mentors and mentees, along with current caregivers, to provide formative information to shape the revised PERSEVERE curriculum that will include in-person mentor training and a comprehensive mentoring handbook. The curriculum will focus on key areas of LBD caregiving mastery, including: fall prevention, infections, neuropsychiatric symptoms (particularly hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, and depression), and advance directives. The investigators will enroll and train a new cohort of 36 LBD caregiver peer mentors who will be matched with 30 current LBD caregivers. Each pair will be instructed to speak on a weekly basis, using the 16-week structured curriculum as a framework. The study team will support the mentors with monthly conference calls and day-to-day availability for concerns. The investigators will assess the feasibility and fidelity of the intervention via online study diaries tracking the frequency, duration, and content of calls. During mentor training, the investigators will assess the change in mentors' caregiver mastery and LBD knowledge pre- and post-training. During the PERSEVERE intervention, the investigators will determine the change in mentees' caregiver mastery, LBD knowledge, and loneliness.

Scientific Premise. PERSEVERE is a theory-based intervention that applies Social Cognitive Theory constructs to the revised Stress Process Model to improve caregiving mastery and ultimately, outcomes. PERSEVERE targets education about common causes of hospitalization in LBD patients combined with social support from trained peer mentors to enhance caregivers' mastery and LBD knowledge. Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) proposes that behavior change is dynamic, affected by expectations, observational learning, and reciprocal influences from the environment.

Study procedures. Aim 1 (Fall 2020): Revise the mentor training curriculum, conversation guides, and resource handbook. The team will convene focus groups of previously trained mentors, LBD caregivers, and LBD professionals, present each group with the original mentor curriculum (training presentation slides and handbook) and the proposed educational resources for inclusion in the revised curriculum and obtain their feedback. Framework analysis will be used to guide the revision of the mentoring curriculum, with provision of practical checklists, goal setting, and step-by-step guides for key areas of LBD caregiving mastery in addition to social support, structured as the 16-week PERSEVERE curriculum.

Aim 2 (Winter 2021): Recruit and screen 36 peer mentors as PERSEVERE is being revised, followed by two 6-7 hour training sessions for mentors in early 2021. Each selected mentor will attend one training session, where the following content will be delivered: 1) study logistics, expectations, and informed consent; 2) baseline mentor data collection; 3) active listening, mentoring, goal- and boundary-setting; 4) overview of LBD, risk factors for hospitalization, impact on caregiver; and 5) practical approaches to symptom management and caregiving issues. The week-by-week PERSEVERE curriculum will be presented along with the accompanying handbook. The investigators will solicit questions and role-play conversations. The study team will encourage mentors to direct their mentees to call their respective medical teams with specific medical questions, however the study team will inform the mentors that they may contact the study team directly for non-emergent advice and resources. Mentors will complete post-training assessments and will receive a training stipend. Mentors' caregiver mastery will be assessed using Pearlin and Schooler's scale pre- and post-training.

Aim 3 (Spring-Summer 2021): Recruit 30 LBD caregivers and conduct baseline assessments including demographics, relationship to LBD patient, and duration of caregiving. Mentors will be matched to caregivers by relationship to LBD patient, then by sex and age, as much as possible. Mentor-mentee pairs will be formed and the PERSEVERE handbook and contact information will be distributed. Pairs will be expected to speak for >15-30 minutes weekly, and to review that week's PERSEVERE topics in the handbook before or during each call to facilitate meaningful conversations. Discussions are not scripted and will not necessarily be limited to that week's topics. Mentors and mentees will complete online study diaries every 2 weeks, assessing intervention fidelity. Up to 3 reminders will be sent to complete each study diary, and if missing, a team member will call the participant(s). Mentors will participate in a total of 4 recorded monthly conferences with the study team. Mentees' caregiver mastery, strain, anxiety, and depression will be assessed at baseline and after the 16-week program. Feasibility will be assessed via online surveys and study team phone call follow-up.

This pilot study will determine the necessary qualities of mentors and matching, the content of the mentor training and PERSEVERE handbook, and the effect sizes of the intervention to determine the sample size for a forthcoming R01.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Focus group participants

   1. Each subject must be 21 years of age or older. A subject may identify as any sex, any race, and any ethnicity.
   2. Subjects must be either:

   i. Individuals who served as peer mentors in our previous study of caregiver peer mentoring and completed at least 16 weeks of mentoring. ii. Individuals who were caregiver mentees in our previous study of caregiver peer mentoring who completed 16 weeks of mentoring. iii. Current informal family caregivers of community-dwelling LBD patients in the Chicago area, recruited from Rush University System for Health and Advocate Aurora Health, who have not participated in mentoring. c. Each subject must be primarily English-speaking. d. Each subject must be willing and able to attend a virtual, online focus group via an internet- and video-camera-equipped computer, tablet, or smartphone.

2. Peer mentors

   1. Each subject must be 21 years of age or older. A subject may identify as any sex, any race, and any ethnicity.
   2. Each subject must be a non-professional caregiver (defined as cohabitating with or spending >10 hours weekly on unpaid caregiving duties) of LBD patients. Mentors may participate regardless of their loved one's status (living at home, institutionalized, or deceased).

   i. If mentors also receive compensation for a portion of their time spent on caregiving duties through state or community programs, they may participate as long as they cohabitate or spend >10 hours providing unpaid care to their loved one. c. Each subject must have >2 years of LBD caregiving experience d. Each subject must be primarily English-speaking. e. Each subject must have a working email address and internet access. f. Each subject must have a working telephone number at which he or she can be reached and which he or she is willing to share with the matched mentee.

   g. Each subject who will attend an online peer mentor training session must have an internet- and video-camera-equipped computer, tablet, or smartphone

3. Caregiver mentees

   1. Each subject must be 21 years of age or older. A subject may identify as any sex, any race, and any ethnicity.
   2. Each subject must be a non-professional, unpaid caregiver, as defined above, of a community-dwelling LBD patient.
   3. Each subject must be interested in improving their caregiving mastery.
   4. Each subject must be primarily English-speaking.
   5. Each subject must have a working email address and internet access.
   6. Each subject must have a working telephone number at which he or she can be reached and which he or she is willing to share with the matched mentor.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Subjects exhibiting symptoms of a severe psychiatric disorder interfering with their ability to participate in the study, as determined by a study team member or the PI.
2. Subjects who are primarily non-English-speaking.
3. Terminal illness (life expectancy of < 12 months).