LTSS Center researchers designed and tested the feasibility of an intervention to support burdened long-distance family caregivers of older adults with dementia.
Researchers at the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston have documented the preliminary feasibility of an intervention called LDCare, which is designed to help address the needs of long-distance caregivers of people living with dementia and reduce their caregiving-related burdens.
Results of the study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), were published online in February 2025 by Clinical Gerontologist.
Developing the Intervention
During the project’s first phase, researchers worked with dementia care experts, including long-distance family caregivers and family caregiver support professionals, to develop LDCare.
Experienced, licensed social workers delivered the seven-week, multi-component LDCare intervention to long-distance caregivers. The intervention consists of four one-on-one skill-building and educational sessions and three discussion and support sessions.
The LDCare intervention is designed to help long-distance caregivers:
- Understand dementia and how to best engage with an individual living with dementia.
- Recognize and learn how to address the personal challenges they may encounter as they provide care at a distance.
- Discover approaches they can use to improve their well-being, such as adopting stress management strategies, engaging in self-care, staying connected with others, and seeking support when needed.
- Learn best practices for interacting with clinicians.
- Obtain resources and tips for managing the safety of the home where their care recipient lives.
Testing the Intervention
During the project’s second phase, a sample group of 40 long-distance caregivers helped researchers examine the feasibility of conducting the LDCare intervention and its preliminary efficacy for reducing caregiver burden, strains, and depression.
Dementia experts from the Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) facilitated the seven one-hour LDCare sessions, which were conducted virtually. FCA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving quality of life for family caregivers and those who receive care.
Research Findings
As reported in Clinical Gerontologist, researchers tracked LDCare’s feasibility over time, and participants in the project’s second phase completed pre-intervention and immediate post-intervention assessments of the intervention. Using this data, researchers appraised LDCare’s feasibility using three indicators:
- Recruitment: Researchers evaluated the intervention’s capacity to recruit long-distance caregivers to participate in the LDCare intervention. Results showed that recruitment capacity was appropriate within the planned timeframe.
- Acceptance: Researchers gauged participants’ willingness to accept the LDCare intervention. They concluded that LDCare’s acceptability was excellent, as demonstrated by high study retention and intervention adherence rates.
- Suitability: Researchers assessed how well the LDCare intervention aligned with the challenges participants faced while carrying out their caregiving roles. Most participants indicated that LDCare addressed their needs as long-distance caregivers “a great deal.”
Finally, researchers found significant decreases in caregiver burden, strains, and depression immediately after the intervention, compared with before the intervention.
Based on study findings, researchers concluded that pending further testing, “LDCare has potential for scalability and eventual integration within service offerings of caregiver support organizations.”
Prior Research About Long-Distance Caregivers
The LDCare intervention follows three other investigations into long-distance caregiving by LTSS Center researcher Verena Cimarolli and her colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Weill Cornell Medicine, the University of Illinois, Chicago, Fordham University, and the University of Oldenburg, Germany.
Published articles include:
Long-Distance Caregivers: What are Their Experiences with Formal Care Providers?, published in 2020 by Clinical Gerontologist, described long-distance caregivers’ experiences with formal care providers, including their satisfaction and challenges.
Long-Distance Caregivers’ Use of Supportive Services,” published in 2021 by the Journal of Gerontological Social Work, investigated supportive service utilization among long-distance caregivers. Researchers concluded that while long-distance caregiving is receiving increased empirical attention, there is still a lack of research examining the nature and consequences of care provision among long-distance caregivers.
Use of Home Care Services Reduces Care-Related Strain in Long-Distance Caregivers, published in 2022 by The Gerontologist, showed that long-distance caregivers offer assistance similar to geographically proximate caregivers. However, distance adds extra complexity to the caregiving role and can intensify care-related stress and burden. Researchers found that long-distance caregivers could benefit from supportive services as they cope with this added burden.
Funding
The 2025 research reported in Clinical Gerontologist was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R21AG069019 (Cimarolli, PI). The content is solely the authors’ responsibility and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.