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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Aging and Public Health

This article is part of the Research TopicTransforming Dementia Caregiving Through Assistive TechnologiesView all 6 articles

Information and education for informal dementia caregivers: the Age-it project

Provisionally accepted
Sara TroleseSara Trolese1*Ilaria ChiricoIlaria Chirico1Sara SantiniSara Santini2Georgia CasanovaGeorgia Casanova2Serena CancellieriSerena Cancellieri2Andrea MelendugnoAndrea Melendugno3Rabih ChattatRabih Chattat1
  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
  • 2INRCA-IRCCS, Ancona, Italy
  • 3Casa Madre Teresa di Calcutta, Opera della Provvidenza Sant'Antonio, Padova, Italy

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Background: While there are several studies on caregivers’ needs in general, the interest towards dementia education as a mean of support and empowerment for caregivers is more recent. This article specifically aims to explore and better understand the training needs of informal caregivers of people with dementia in Italy as to inform the development of an educational tool specifically devoted to them. Methods: Informal caregivers were recruited through key informants working in the third sector and social support organizations. Two focus groups were carried out and transcripts were coded and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: The sample included a total of 19 informal caregivers of people with dementia. Three themes emerged: 1) The impact of dementia on caregivers; 2) The relevance of dementia education for caregivers and society; and 3) Caregivers’ information and education needs. The general lack of information and education about dementia from the very first diagnosis affected the chance for caregivers to be effectively supported and prevent and de-escalate caregivers’ emotional distress. Conclusions: Knowledge transfer is the most proximal effect of educational interventions and should represent part of personalized multicomponent support for caregivers throughout the dementia journey.

Keywords: information, Education, Dementia, Informal caregivers, E-health interventions

Received: 10 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Trolese, Chirico, Santini, Casanova, Cancellieri, Melendugno and Chattat. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Sara Trolese, sara.trolese@unibo.it

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material