Clinical Science Colloquium

A Daily Self-Regulation Intervention for Spouses of Persons with Early Stage Dementia

An estimated 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, many of whom receive care from a spouse. Spouses are most vulnerable to psychological health problems (e.g., depression) and caregiver burnout because they are often socially isolated and are emotionally connected to their partner. No daily, self-guided interventions, to our knowledge, target self-regulation skills that can be applied to change behaviors deemed important to spousal caregivers’ and care recipients’ individual and relational well-being. We define self-regulation as monitoring and controlling one’s own behavior, emotions, or thoughts in response to having a partner with dementia. In this talk I will explain how the WOOP (Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan) intervention can be used to understand the daily self-regulation strategies of spouses of persons with early stage dementia. I will then present preliminary evidence from a pilot experiment suggesting that training spouses to use WOOP has long term benefits for their own well-being as well as their partner’s.

Room: 
1104
Event Type: 
Colloquium
Location: 
Berkeley Way West
Date: 
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Time: 
15:30:00
To: 
17:00:00
Event Sponsor: 
Psychology, Department of
Event Speakers: 
Joan K. Monin, PhD