ACTPlan Research

Previous studies of ACTPlan conducted by Dr. Bonner relied on delivery of the program in person by expert instructors. While effective, the reliance on in-person experts posed an obstacle for the wide dissemination of the program to African American families in need. To make the benefits of ACTPlan more widely accessible to this minority group, an online version was developed that expanded accessibility to broader ranges of this population. To test its effectiveness, a Phase II randomized controlled trial of the online version of ACTPlan was sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (grant #R44AG065095).

In the study, 91 African American family caregivers of loved ones with dementia, who lived in the greater Chicago area, were randomly assigned to participate in either the ACTPlan dementia education program in group Zoom sessions or a general health promotion education program also conducted over Zoom. Both groups attended their respective sessions at concurrent time intervals. Study results are promising in that, caregivers using the online version of the ACTPlan education program had outcomes comparable to the original, face-to-face ACTPlan in-person groups, including statistically significant gains in their knowledge about CPR, mechanical ventilation, and tube feeding, as well as increased confidence in their decision-making ability about end-of-life choices for loved ones. (The full study will be linked here when published.)