Befriending carers of people with dementia: randomised controlled trial

doi:10.1136/bmj.39549.548831.AE

BMJ 2008;336:1295-1297 (7 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39549.548831.AE (published 27 May 2008)

Research

Befriending carers of people with dementia: randomised controlled trial

Georgina Charlesworth, lecturer in clinical and health psychology of old age¹^,2, Lee Shepstone, reader in medical statistics³, Edward Wilson, research associate in health economics³, Shirley Reynolds, professor of clinical psychology³, Miranda Mugford, professor of health economics³, David Price, professor of primary care⁴, Ian Harvey, professor of epidemiology and public health³, Fiona Poland, senior lecturer in therapy research⁵

¹ Centre for Behavioural and Social Sciences in Medicine, University College London, London W1W 7EJ, ² North East London Mental Health Trust, London, ³ School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, ⁴ Department of General Practice and Primary Care, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2AY, ⁵ School of Allied Health Professions, University of East Anglia

Correspondence to: G Charlesworth g.charlesworth{at}ucl.ac.uk

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a voluntary sectorbased befriending scheme in improving psychological wellbeingand quality of life for family carers of people with dementia.

Design Single blind randomised controlled trial.

Setting Community settings in East Anglia and London.

Participants 236 family carers of people with primary progressivedementia.

Intervention Contact with a befriender facilitator and offerof match with a trained lay volunteer befriender compared withno befriender facilitator contact; all participants continuedto receive "usual care."

Main outcome measures Carers’ mood (hospital anxiety anddepression scale—depression) and health related qualityof life (EuroQoL) at 15 months post-randomisation.

Results The intention to treat analysis showed no benefit forthe intervention "access to a befriender facilitator" on theprimary outcome measure or on any of the secondary outcome measures.

Conclusions In common with many carers’ services, befriendingschemes are not taken up by all carers, and providing accessto a befriending scheme is not effective in improving wellbeing.

Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN08130075 [controlled-trials.com] .

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