Caring for others: Internet health care support intervention for family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's, Stroke, or Parkinson's disease

The purpose of the project was to emulate face-to-face psychosocial support group process in an Internet videoconferencing environment and explore the benefits for 34 family caregivers of persons with neurodegenerative disease. Caregivers were provided with computer equipment and trained to access a password-protected Web site. Using videoconferencing software, each group of 6 members met with a facilitator online weekly for 10 weeks. Each caregiver was interviewed at 6-month follow-up. Participant response data were generated through qualitative analysis of group process and follow-up interviews. The analysis showed that the virtual group process closely paralleled face-to-face group interactions. At follow-up, 90% of the caregivers reported that the online group experience had been "very" or "overall" positive and that the group had helped them cope with the stresses of caregiving. The professional and ethical implications of providing a clinical intervention using the Internet are discussed.