The Residential Care Transition Module

Emerging research on family caregiving and institutionalization has emphasized that families do not disengage from care responsibilities following a relative's admission to residential long-term care settings. The Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM) provides 6 formal sessions of consultation (one-to-one and family sessions) over a 4-month period to those family caregivers who have admitted a cognitively impaired relative to a residential long-term care setting (nursing home, assisted living memory care unit). The proposed mixed method, randomized controlled trial will determine whether and how the RCTM decreases family caregivers' emotional and psychological distress, placement-related strain, and increases relative's transitions back to the community. The RCTM will fill an important clinical and research gap by evaluating a psychosocial intervention designed for families following RLTC placement to determine whether and how this approach can help families better navigate the residential care transitions of relatives with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia.