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Savvy Caregiver: An Evidence-Based Intervention for Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care

Savvy Caregiver is intended to train families and others for the unfamiliar role they face as caregiver for a relative or friend with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. Savvy Caregiver is a 12-hour training program that is usually delivered in 2-hour sessions over a 6-week period. Available materials for the program include a detailed trainer’s manual, a caregiver manual, a training videotape, and a CD-ROM. The program focuses on helping caregivers think about their situation objectively and providing them with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to manage stress and carry out the caregiving role effectively.

An evaluation of Savvy Caregiver found statistically significant positive outcomes for caregivers who participated in the program vs. those in the control group with respect to the caregivers’ beliefs about caregiving, their reactions to the behavioral symptoms of their care recipient, and their feelings of stress and burden (Ostwald et al., 1999; Hepburn et al., 2001). This evaluation was conducted in an academic setting where the program was delivered by its developers.

Savvy Caregiver training has also been transformed into a self-contained version that can be delivered in many settings without direct involvement of the developers. This version was field tested with 140 family caregivers in rural Minnesota, Denver, and Anchorage, Alaska, with positive responses from the caregivers and the professionals who offered the training (health educators, nurses, social workers, recreation therapists, and geriatricians) (Hepburn et al., 2003).

Implementation of Savvy Caregiver through Colorado ADDGS Grant:

Since 2002, Savvy Caregiver training has been provided by a consortium of agencies in Colorado with funding from the Administration on Aging through the Alzheimer’s Disease Demonstration Grants to States (ADDGS) program. A major objective of the Colorado project was to reach rural caregivers. The consortium believed that Savvy Caregiver training would be particularly useful for these caregivers because it teaches caregivers to use a comprehensive manual and CD-ROM that can help them with future caregiving problems even if they do not have access to services in their local communities. Since many rural caregivers would have difficulty traveling long distances for 2-hour training sessions over a 6-week period, the Colorado consortium provided Savvy Caregiver training in longer sessions that were delivered in one day, or one day a week for two weeks or three weeks.

Research from the Colorado ADDGS project indicates that Savvy Caregiver training is effective in reducing depression and increasing the use of support groups by rural caregivers. The 1- 2- and 3-day training formats appear to be equally effective and make the program available to rural caregivers who would not be able to receive the training if it were delivered in shorter sessions over a 6-week period. The ADDGS project in Colorado has published two journal articles in support of that research. One article entitled, “Examining the Effectiveness of the Savvy Caregiver Program among Rural Colorado Residents” is available online. The second article entitled, “Number of Training Sessions Does Not Change Program Effectiveness: Evaluation of Formats of One, Two, or Three Sessions For the Alzheimer’s Savvy Caregiver Training Program” is available for a charge on Sage Publications website. Additionally, the ADDGS National Resource Center completed a case study on Colorado's ADDGS program. To view the case study, click here.

For more information about the original Savvy Caregiver program, contact Kenneth Hepburn, PhD, Emory University, e-mail: khepburn@emory.edu.

For more information about Savvy Caregiver in the ADDGS program in Colorado, contact Paul Bell, PhD, Coloado State University, plubium@lamar.colostate.edu or (970) 491-7215.

Hepburn KW, Tornatore J, Center B, and Ostwald SW. (2001). Dementia Family Caregiver Training: Affecting Beliefs About Caregiving and Caregiver Outcomes. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 49(4), 450-457.

Hepburn KW, Lewis M, Sherman CW, and Tornatore J. (2003). The Savvy Caregiver Program: Developing and Testing a Transportable Dementia Family Caregiver Training Program. Gerontologist 43(6), 908-915.

Ostwald SK, Hepburn KW, Caron W, Burns T, and Mantell R. (1999). Reducing Caregiver Burden: A Randomized Psychoeducational Intervention for Caregivers of Persons with Dementia. Gerontologist, 39(3), 299-309.

Smith, S. A., & Bell, P. A. (2005). Examining the effectiveness of the Savvy Caregiver Program among rural Colorado residents. Rural and Remote Health 5 (online), 2005: 466. Available from: http://rrh.deakin.edu.au/articles/subviewnew.asp?ArticleID=466

Scharf, L., Bell, P. A., & Smith, S. A. (2006). Number of training sessions does not change program effectiveness: Evaluation of formats of one, two, or three sessions for the Alzheimer’s Savvy Caregiver Training Program. Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice, 5, 559-569.