The study of the integrated approach aimed to reduce the social isolation of dementia caregivers

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K04394
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Clinical psychology
• Research Institution: Seirei Christopher University
• Principal Investigator: Sato Junko 聖隷クリストファー大学, リハビリテーション学部, 教授 (90566233)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 仲秋 秀太郎 名古屋市立大学, 医薬学総合研究院(医学), 研究員 (80315879) ; 三村 將 慶應義塾大学, 医学部(信濃町), 教授 (00190728) ; 成本 迅 京都府立医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (30347463) ; 川口 彰子 名古屋市立大学, 医薬学総合研究院(医学), 研究員 (20632699)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 社会的孤立 / ソーシャルサポート / 介護者 / 認知症 / 精神症状

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Caregivers of dementia with various neuropsychiatric symptoms suffer from sever distress.Both dementia patients and caregivers are isolated from normal social networksbecause they could not fully utilize social facilities. Thus, it is important to develop the integrated intervention (cognitive behavior treatment for caregivers, improvement for social support) aimed to reduce social isolation for both dementia patients with various neuropsychiatric symptoms and caregivers. We investigate the effect of the integrated intervention for both dementia patients (Alzheimer’s disease n=14, Lewy body dementia n=6) and the caregivers. We demonstrated that the integrated intervention improved both loneliness and poor social support for caregivers with dementia with severe neuropsychiatric symptoms. The integrated intervention is useful to reduce
social isolation in dementia caregivers suffering from severe distress.

Free Research Field

老年精神医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

このように薬物療法に比較して、コストやリスクの低い新たな統合的介入方法の開発は、国内外での初めての試みであり、介護者の社会的孤立を緩和する方略を検討した意義は大きい。そのような検証により、社会資源を有用に利用し、在宅介護が継続できるような新たな介護サポートシステムの開発と波及が今後期待できる。