Effects of a home-based exercise program on mental health for caregivers of relatives with dementia: a randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT Objective: This study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a home-based physical exercise program on participants’ mental health: psychological symptoms, depression, and burden of female informal caregivers. Design and participants: In a randomized controlled trial, a sample of 48 female informal primary caregivers completed the entire study, 25 were randomly allocated to the intervention group (IG), and 23 participants to the control group (CG). Intervention: Participants in the IG performed two 60-minute-long physical exercise sessions per week (36 weeks) that were supervised by a personal trainer at caregivers’ home during 9 months. The CG continued their habitual leisure-time activities. Measurements: Subjective burden was assessed by the Zarit Burden Interview. The risk of depression was measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form 15-item version, and psychological symptoms were evaluated by the Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). All participants were evaluated at baseline and at the end of the intervention. Results: A promising positive impact of the intervention on caregivers’ subjective burden and risk of depression was found in the IG. In addition, no significant between-group differences were found in any of nine subscales scores of the SCL-90-R. Finally, care recipients’ level of functional independence and area of residence were found to be predictors of the promising positive impact on caregivers’ subjective burden and risk of depression. Conclusions: The present home-based physical exercise intervention that was individually implemented has shown promising results to reduce subjective burden and risk of depression in female caregivers of relatives with dementia. However, future research efforts should elucidate both the particular dose of physical exercise and the particular duration of the intervention that are required to obtain the expected significant positive impact. Finally, future inclusion of psychological approaches, besides physical exercise, might help reduce female caregivers’ psychological symptoms.