Table 1.

Manuscripts Included in Review (n = 8).

Authors	Aims	Participants (n, Age, Gender, and Ethnicity)	Outcome Variables	Results
Caregiver’s Friend
Beauchamp et al 9	To evaluate the efficacy of multimedia support program delivered over the Internet to employed family caregivers of PWD	n = 299, 46.9 years (avg), 73% female, 80% white, 4% African American, 8% Hispanic	Caregiver strain; caregiver gain; depression; anxiety	Significant improvements in depression, anxiety, stress, strain, self-efficacy, intention to seek help, and perceptions of positive aspects of caregiving.
ComputerLink
Bass et al 10	To determine whether access to ComputerLink had greater reductions in caregiver strain	n = 96, 60 years (avg), 68% female, 28% African American	Caregiver strain; activity restriction; ComputerLink use	No reduction in overall strain. Reduction in relationship strain for spouses and in emotional strain and activity restriction for caregivers with more informal support. Decrease in activity restriction was greater for caregivers not living alone with PWD.
Brennan et al 11	To examine the impact of ComputerLink use on caregiver’s decision-making confidence, skill, and isolation	n = 102, 64 years (median), 67% female, 72% white	Decision-making confidence; decision-making skill; social support; depression; burden; service utilization; patient’s functional status	Significant improvement in decision-making confidence. Functional status declined similarly in both the groups. No significant changes in decision-making skills or perception of social isolation.
Casper et al 12	To examine the impact of ComputerLink on caregiver’s decision confidence and skill	n = 102, 60 years (avg), 67% female, 28% African American	Decision-making confidence; decision-making skill	Significant improvement in decision-making confidence. Access to and length of time on ComputerLink were correlated with decision-making confidence.
REACH
Eisdorfer et al 13	To examine efficacy of SET and SET + CTIS to reduce depressive symptoms	n = 225, 69 years (avg), 75% female, 51% Cuban Americans, 49% white Americans	Depression; burden; satisfaction with social support	Combined family therapy and technology intervention (SET + CTIS) resulted in significant reduction in depressive symptoms at 6 and 18 months
Finkel et al 14	To evaluate the effectiveness of technology-based caregiver psychosocial intervention modeled after the REACH SET + CTIS intervention	n = 46, 64.6 years (avg), 68% female, 92% white, 8% African American	Depression; burden; caregiver’s health behavior; social support; change in problem behaviors	Caregivers in the intervention had a significant decrease in burden overtime. Compared with controls, those with high depression at baseline had improvement in depression; those with high support at baseline were able to maintain support and had improved caregiving confidence and ability to provide care.
Gitlin et al 15	To determine the pooled treatment effect of 15 different REACH interventions on burden and depression	n = 1222, (age, gender, and ethnicity not reported in this article)	Depression; burden	Intervention improved caregiver’s burden. The family therapy plus computer technology intervention reduced depression.
Mahoney et al 16	To determine the main outcome effects of a computer-mediated automated interactive voice response intervention	n = 100, 62 years (avg), 80% female, 79% white	Bother; anxiety; depression	Significant intervention effect on bother, anxiety, and depression for caregivers with low mastery at baseline. Wives also had a significant intervention effect in reducing bother.

Abbreviations: PWD, persons with dementia; REACH, Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health; SET, structural ecosystems therapy; CTIS, computer telephone integrated system.