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Run a family meeting to coordinate care

A family meeting can turn a broad request for more help into a short list of care tasks, clear owners, and a date to check the plan again. It is a coordination tool, not a promise about what will happen next.

An 18-month randomized trial of 192 dementia patient-caregiver pairs tested structured family meetings with caregiver preparation, four counseling sessions with family members and friends, and an evaluation meeting.1 The trial found the meetings did not significantly delay nursing-home placement compared with usual care.1 The same trial measured effects on caregiver mental health: 72 of 192 caregivers developed depression or anxiety within 12 months, and the family meetings did not reduce that risk, did not reduce symptoms, and did not reduce burden or improve quality of life.2

Use a meeting to make and revise care commitments. Do not present family meetings as a way to guarantee a delay in nursing-home placement, or as a way to protect the caregiver's own mental health — this trial found neither effect.

  1. Joling KJ, van Marwijk HWJ, van der Horst HE, Scheltens P, van de Ven PM, Appels BA, et al. (2012). Effectiveness of Family Meetings for Family Caregivers on Delaying Time to Nursing Home Placement of Dementia Patients: A Randomized Trial. PLOS ONE, 7(8), e42145. Source → ↩↩

  2. Joling KJ, van Marwijk HWJ, Smit F, van der Horst HE, Scheltens P, van de Ven PM, Mittelman MS, van Hout HPJ. (2012). Does a Family Meetings Intervention Prevent Depression and Anxiety in Family Caregivers of Dementia Patients? A Randomized Trial. PLOS ONE, 7(1), e30936. Source → ↩