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The Rural Family Dementia Caregivers (RFD Caregivers) Program: Developing Caregiving Knowledge and Skills for a Disproportionately Burdened Caregiver Population

Award Number: R01AG099377
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/18/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2031

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The Rural Family Dementia Caregivers (RFD Caregivers) Program: Developing Caregiving Knowledge and Skills for a Disproportionately Burdened Caregiver Population - The Rural Family Dementia Caregivers (RFD Caregivers) Program: Developing Caregiving Knowledge and Skills for a Disproportionately Burdened Caregiver Population Abstract. Americans living in rural areas, compared to their urban and suburban counterparts, are disproportionately affected by shortages of health care resources, resulting in poorer health status and health outcomes. The prevalence and impact of dementia and other chronic illnesses is and will continue to be higher in rural America. Rural-dwelling persons living with dementia illnesses (PLWD) and the friends and family (caregivers) who support them are adversely affected by the scarcity of primary care health providers and competent diagnostic and coordinated dementia-sensitive care and support services, the distance to and unavailability of specialty care and effective education, and the ongoing closure of rural hospitals. This project seeks to ameliorate the challenges faced by rural dementia families by embedding an evidence-based online dementia caregiver psychoeducation program (Tele-Savvy) into a statewide dementia diagnostic and care planning entity (Georgia Memory Net (GMN)). GMN, established by the State of Georgia in 2018 to expand dementia diagnostic capacity statewide, supports seven Memory Assessment Clinics (MACs) that provide in-person and virtual comprehensive dementia and dementia caregiver assessments and care management recommendations (but not care coordination), especially to residents in rural counties. Tele- Savvy, a 43-day synchronous/asynchronous program, employs a Social Cognitive Theory-based mechanism to strengthen dementia family caregivers’ competence and confidence (mastery) for enacting solution-focused coping behaviors in their day-to-day caregiving. Tele-Savvy has been shown to be efficacious in improving caregivers’ emotional well-being and improving PLWD quality of life, improvements mediated by demonstrated enhancements in caregiving mastery. Tele-Savvy will be augmented to incorporate curriculum elements aimed at developing rural caregivers’ competence and confidence for identifying, accessing, and coordinating the formal and informal healthcare and support services needed to help maintain community living for PLWD. Employing a cohort-based wait-list design, we will recruit 10 groups of 24 families (N=240) to participate in a 12-month study to evaluate Tele-Savvy’s impact on caregiver and PLWD well-being. The study will pursue two principal aims and an exploratory aim: Aim 1. Evaluate the efficacy of RFD Tele-Savvy to enhance the sense of mastery and emotional well-being of GMN family caregivers and document ways RFD Tele-Savvy enhanced caregivers’ capacities to carry out care plans and master the particular challenges of rural caregiving. Aim 2. Establish the efficacy of RFD Tele-Savvy in promoting improvements in the quality of life of PLWD whose caregivers are trained in the RFD Tele-Savvy program. Exploratory Aim: Gather information to assess the feasibility of and to estimate power needs for a future examination of the effect of GMN caregiver participation in RFD Tele-Savvy on PLWD healthcare utilization (ED visits and preventable hospitalizations).


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $651,391 )
2026	2026	EMORY UNIVERSITY	201 DOWMAN DR NE	ATLANTA	GA	30322	DEKALB	USA	Aging Research	000	1	8/18/2026	NEW	$651,391
														Subtotal = $651,391

Grand Total All Awards = $651,391

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The Rural Family Dementia Caregivers (RFD Caregivers) Program: Developing Caregiving Knowledge and Skills for a Disproportionately Burdened Caregiver Population

Award Number: R01AG099377

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/18/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2031

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