Rehabilitation Program for Persons with Relatives Suffering from Dementia: Results of a Longitudinal Observational Study

Background: Caregiving relatives of dementia patients are exposed to considerable burdens. A multimodal rehabilitation concept which enables the inpatient treatment of caregiving relatives together with the dementia patients was evaluated.

Methods: Questionnaire survey including 121 caring relatives at 3 times of measurement. Indicators of subjective health and the use of nursing and psychosocial support services were measured during the course of the study.

Results: Relevant improvements in health can be seen after rehabilitation. Six months after rehabilitation, the effects decrease, but do not reach the baseline value before rehabilitation for any of the variables measured.

Conclusions: The multimodal rehabilitation concept shows sustainable effects, at least in some variables. In connection with the high level of satisfaction of the participants, the results indicate that the rehabilitation concept is successful and is associated with a large health benefit.