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<h4>Background</h4>The impact of dementia screening on the mental health of older adults and their family members remains insufficiently understood, particularly in light of the bidirectional dynamics within the older adult-family dyad. This study aims to examine how dementia screening affects older adults and their family members over time, and whether these effects occur independently or simultaneously within the dyad.<h4>Participants and setting</h4>One thousand eight hundred five older adults (≥ 65 years old) and their family member dyads participated in the multi-site Caregiver Outcomes of Alzheimer's Disease Screening (COADS) trial were randomized into three study arms: screening only, screening plus referral for diagnostic assessment, and no-screening control.<h4>Methods</h4>Depressive symptoms measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were collected in both older adults and their family members at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months post-intervention. A cross-lagged panel model was used to examine longitudinal and dyadic associations in depressive symptoms between members of the dyad. Intervention status (0 = no-screening control, 1 = combined screening group who received negative results, 2 = combined screening group who received positive results) was included as a predictor of depressive symptoms at 6 months.<h4>Results</h4>Compared with controls, dyads in the combined screening groups who received negative (β = -0.53, p = 0) and positive (β = -0.84, p = 0.058) results showed lower depressive symptoms among older adults at 6 months. Improvements in older adults' depressive symptoms subsequently influenced family members' mental health through a dyadic pathway, resulting in reduced depressive symptoms among family members at 12 months (β = 0.05, p = 0.016).<h4>Conclusions</h4>The findings suggest that screening for dementia in older adults has a spillover effect to family members. Dementia screening may have a double benefit in families. Further clinical trials should include measures of both dyad members to understand how to best target the mental health of families more efficiently.

Abstract: PubMed · Datensatz