Randomized clinical trial of the individualized coordination and empowerment for care partners of persons with dementia (ICECaP) intervention: impact on preparedness for caregiving

TL;DR

This study shows that the ICECaP intervention significantly improves dementia caregivers' preparedness and mental health over 12 months.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that ICECaP uniquely enhances caregiver preparedness and links it to better mental health outcomes.

Findings

ICECaP significantly improved self-reported preparedness for caregiving compared to routine support.

Improved preparedness was associated with reduced caregiving burden and negative reactions to dementia symptoms.

No significant differences were found in dementia knowledge or self-efficacy between the groups.

Abstract

Dementia care partners are at elevated risk of adverse mental health outcomes and often feel unprepared for their caregiving role. Individualized Coordination and Empowerment for Care Partners of Persons with Dementia (ICECaP) is an intervention that involves one-on-one individualized support from a dementia care coordinator for a dementia care partner. At least once monthly contact is made from a dementia care coordinator to the dementia care partner by telephone, video conferencing, email, and/or in-person support.

We aimed to determine whether ICECaP improves care partner readiness and whether improvements in readiness are associated with mental health improvements.

In this randomized control trial of ICECaP, n = 61 care partners completed 12-months of the ICECaP intervention, and n = 69 care partners received routine clinical support (controls) in an outpatient memory care clinic (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04495686). We compared changes in care partner preparedness, dementia knowledge, and self-efficacy from baseline to 12-months between ICECaP and controls.

ICECaP care partners improved on self-reported preparedness for caregiving from baseline to 12-months to a significantly greater degree versus controls (p =.001, ηp2 = 0.066); no group differences were detected on change in dementia knowledge or self-efficacy over time. Exploratory analyses revealed that within the ICECaP group, longitudinal improvement in preparedness was significantly associated with longitudinal decreases in self-reported caregiving burden and negative reactions to behavioral symptoms of dementia (corrected ps < 0.05).

ICECaP significantly improves dementia caregiver preparedness, which is associated with improved mental health.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40520-025-02959-z.

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