Improving Self-Care of Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia Caregivers

Informal caregivers of persons with Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) are an understudied population with unique needs. FTD is a common cause of young-onset dementia with no known cure. Behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD) is the most common of the FTD syndromes and involves a progressive disorder of emotional regulation and personality, and significant impairment in executive function. bvFTD caregivers face unique challenges which are particularly stressful, including young age at which the disorder appears, behavioral symptoms like apathy and disinhibition that are severe and appear early in bvFTD, and the lack of appropriate supportive services. Indeed, numerous studies have demonstrated that stress, depression and burden are higher in FTD caregivers than in any of the other ADRDs, yet caregiver interventions tested in specifically in the FTD population have been limited to a few small studies that focus on education around patient behavior management, not caregiver self-care. The research study is being conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a virtual support intervention to reduce stress and poor self-care for caregivers of persons with behavioral variant Frontotemporal Degeneration (bvFTD) compared to receiving health information alone. 30 caregivers will be randomized 1:1 to a health information: health information + health coaching group. Catered information will be delivered via tablets over 6 months with testing dispersed at baseline, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months.