- Open to adults age 21 or older of any gender who provide care to a person with dementia or cognitive impairment who also has a pain diagnosis.
- Participants must visit the care recipient at least weekly and be accessible by telephone.
- Participants must not be paid caregivers.
Detailed eligibility will be reviewed when you contact the study team.
The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of the Pain Identification and Communication Toolkit (PICT) with a Health Promotion (HP) program.
Participants will be assigned to either the Pain Identification and Communication Toolkit (PICT/intervention) or Health Promotion (HP/attention control) group. There is an equal chance of being placed into either of the study groups, like flipping a coin.
Regardless of the assigned group, participants will meet weekly by telephone with a member of the research team. Each meeting will be approximately 30-60 minutes.
- Pain Identification and Communication Toolkit: In this group, participants will learn strategies for identifying and communicating about pain in their care recipient.
- Health Promotion Group: In this group, participants will learn about topics and strategies to help them be healthier caregivers.
In addition to the activities above, participants will also complete 4 questionnaire packets: one at the start of the study and follow-up questionnaires at 1-, 3-, and 6 months post-enrollment. Questionnaires will ask about different aspects of caregiving (e.g., caregiver burden, pain recognition, intent to attend intervention sessions).
Participants in the PICT/intervention group will also complete a brief exit interview.
All study-related activities and questionnaires will be conducted in English and all sessions will be by telephone or videoconference. Participation in this study is expected to last 6 months.