A Home-Based Couple Management Guide for Couples Affected by Dementia (DemPower): A Protocol (Preprint)
BACKGROUND The increasing rate of dementia and high health and social care costs call for effective measures to improve public health and enhance the wellbeing of people living with dementia and their relational networks. Most post diagnostic services focus on the condition and the person with dementia with limited attention to the caring spouse/partner. The key focus of the study is to develop a guide for couples where one partner has a diagnosis of dementia. This couple-management guide is delivered in the form of an app, ‘DemPower’. OBJECTIVE The study aims to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of DemPower and assess the criteria for a full-integrated clinical and economic randomised control trial. METHODS DemPower couple-management app will be introduced to couples where one partner has dementia. The study will recruit 25 couples in the UK and 25 couples in Sweden. Couples will be given three months to engage with the app and the amount of time taken to complete the guide (it may be <3 months as well as >3) will be reviewed. A set of outcome measures will be obtained at baseline and post intervention stages. RESULTS The proposed study is at recruitment phase. The DemPower app is being introduced to couples from consultation groups at a pre-trial phase for identification of bugs and explore if any navigation challenges exist. The feasibility testing will begin in April 2018. CONCLUSIONS The study will determine how much support couples need to engage with DemPower and whether or not they make use of it in their everyday lives. If there is support for app use, a future study will assess whether it is superior to ‘usual care’. CLINICALTRIAL ISRCTN10122979