The burden of caring for a loved-one with Alzheimer's disease is associated with adverse psychological and general health consequences for the caregiver. These consequences including risk for depression, cardiovascular disease, and earlier mortality. Because preliminary work has demonstrated that an educational programs for caregivers reduce the negative affect associated with caregiving, the investigators wish to determine whether improving mood can also modify pathophysiological changes that have been linked to risk for developing cardiovascular disease.
The investigators aims are to determine whether a 6-week Behavioral Activation (BA) intervention, followed by 3 booster sessions over a period of 6 months, compared to an Information-Support (IS) intervention will be associated with significant improvement in indicators of vascular pathology, modification of psychobiological markers that have been associated with cardiovascular parameters, and to determine whether improvements in indicators of vascular parameters will be mediated by treatment related change in measures of distress and markers of cardiovascular disease risk.
