abstract
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BACKGROUND Over one million Canadians are affected directly or indirectly by dementia. Informal caregivers (CGs) of people with dementia (PwD) provide the majority of health-based care to PwD. Providing this care requires knowledge and access to resources, which CGs often do not receive. CGs are looking online for dementia education and support.
OBJECTIVE The primary objective was to evaluate the impact of online educational tools on informal CG self-efficacy. Secondary outcomes of interest are CG quality of life, CG burden/distress, CG stress, CG depression, CG anxiety, and identifying effective processes for online educational tool development.
METHODS The search protocol, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and methods of analysis were all specified a priori. A systematic search of CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed was performed to March 2018. The literature was periodically surveyed post-initial search to account for newly published articles. 32 articles were included.
RESULTS Despite some studies reporting mixed perceived value for CG, multiple studies reported encouraging results. There is some evidence in the literature that online interventions improve CG self-efficacy, depression, dementia knowledge, and quality of life; and decrease caregiver burden.
CONCLUSIONS : Online educational tools appear to be effective at improving CG-related outcomes. Developers are encouraged to involve CGs and health care professionals at all stages of tool conceptualization and development; and evaluate the effectiveness of online tools with robust RCTs that focus on how increased knowledge modifies CG-related outcomes.