Project COPE:Managing Dementia at Home

This study tests the effectiveness of an in-home intervention to reduce upset and burden among family caregivers, and decrease nursing home placement. The main hypothesis that will be tested is that compared to control group, subjects, experimental group participants will have enhanced well-being and fewer nursing home placements.

Implement a multi-component in-home intervention designed to prevent and ameliorate the troublesome behaviors that families typically confront and that often trigger nursing home placement. The intervention combines the most effective strategies that have been identified in previous caregiver research by the investigative team and best clinical practices to provide a comprehensive service approach to families and individuals with dementia including education, skills training, home safety, and stress management. To enhance its applicability to real-world practice within the aging service network, the intervention is designed to be reproducible and its components and treatment goals commensurate with the Medicaid Waiver Program. In the absence of evidence-based service protocols currently in place for this Waiver population, the intervention, if effective, would provide a systematic, evidence-based approach in the Medicaid Waiver program to help families and persons with dementia remain at home and in their communities.