A meta-analysis of mindfulness-based interventions for improving mental health and burden among caregivers of persons living with dementia.

A meta-analysis of 13 randomized trials found that mindfulness-based interventions significantly reduce stress and anxiety in caregivers of people with dementia. Interventions lasting 8 weeks or more also help lower depression, but the therapies did not show significant immediate benefits for reducing depression or caregiver burden. The authors suggest mindfulness has potential but note that more rigorous, larger randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm its effectiveness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Mindfulness-based interventions are becoming increasingly popular and are effective in lowering depressive symptoms and caregiver burden. However, the overall efficacy of therapies in stress and anxiety management is unreported, and no study to date has performed a subgroup analysis to investigate the intervention dose response of outcomes. To quantitatively identify the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions for caregivers of persons living with dementia. A comprehensive literature search of six databases was undertaken from the date of inception to June 18, 2023. The DerSimonian-Laird model with random effects was used to examine the overall effect and its heterogeneity in the studies. Version 2 of the risk of bias (RoB 2) tool was employed to analyze the publication bias of each randomized study. Funnel and forest plots were created to represent the findings. Thirteen randomized trials were included in the meta-analysis. Mindfulness-based interventions significantly reduced stress and anxiety of caregivers of persons living with dementia. In addition, interventions provided for ≥8 weeks were beneficial in reducing depression in caregivers. However, mindfulness-based interventions did not offer significant benefits in reducing depression or caregiver burden immediately after the intervention. Mindfulness-based interventions have the potential to help caregivers of people living with dementia. This study could be used as a model for future research into and implementation of mindfulness-based therapies for caregivers. Mindfulness-based therapies appear to alleviate stress and anxiety but are ineffective in reducing depression and burden in caregivers of persons living with dementia. Well-designed RCTs with more rigorous methodology and a larger sample size should be conducted to firm the conclusion of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions for caregivers of persons living with dementia.