COACH Intervention May Reduce Instances of Elder Mistreatment

FRIDAY, Oct. 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- A remotely delivered caregiver intervention may be effective at preventing elder mistreatment, according to a pilot study published online Oct. 4 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Zachary D. Gassoumis, Ph.D., from University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues evaluated a strengths-based, person-centered caregiver social support intervention (Comprehensive Older Adult and Caregiver Help [COACH]) to prevent elder mistreatment. The analysis included 80 family caregivers of older adults who were members of Kaiser Permanente, and who completed surveys at baseline, posttest, and three-month follow-up.

The researchers found that at the three-month follow-up, the intervention group had significant reductions in elder mistreatment (22.5 percent at baseline versus 0 percent at follow-up) compared with the control group (15.4 percent at baseline and 23.1 percent at follow-up). Immediately after intervention completion, caregivers reported greater social quality of life versus control group caregivers, but this effect did not persist at follow-up.

"As a caregiver support program that can be delivered remotely, the COACH intervention is designed to enable replication and scaling within health care systems or by providers of long-term services and supports, offering the potential to have a dramatic impact on the health and well-being of older adults," the authors write.

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