Adapting Behavioral Interventions to Better Support Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia Care Partners Based on Their Unique Needs and Differences

Care partners of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Lewy body dementia (LBD) are typically family members or friends. They often experience physical and psychological strain associated with caregiving. Hence, the long-term goal is to improve the physical and psychological health and well-being of care partners of individuals with AD and LBD through the provision of a self-management intervention, problem-solving training (PST). To achieve this goal, the following gap in literature has to be addressed. Firstly, although AD and LBD have different symptom presentations, little is known about challenges specific to LBD care partners and how these challenges differ between AD and LBD care partners. Next, research to date has yet to identify specific care partner characteristics that could impact uptake and outcomes of behavioral interventions that promote self-management, like PST. Therefore, this (ORBIT model Phase I) study aims to (1) identify differences between the challenges faced by care partners of AD and LBD patients to support the transferability of care partner interventions to all care partners, and (2) identify whether PST needs to be adapted (i.e., optimized) to account for unique individual differences that may affect how much a person benefits from the intervention. Results of both these aims will provide a concrete understanding of both AD and LBD care partner experiences and specific care partner characteristics and intervention components that could impact how we can better support care partners.