Abstract
Background: Dementia caregiving in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) occurs in contexts where public care infrastructure is limited, placing the primary responsibility for daily care on family caregivers. Psychoeducational interventions have emerged as a central strategy to strengthen coping, communication skills, and emotional well-being. Evans et al. (2024) synthesized evidence demonstrating that such programs in LMICs reduce caregiver burden and improve caregiving competence. However, questions remain regarding scalability, cultural adaptation, and health-system integration.
Objective: To critically analyze the contributions of Evans et al., situating their findings within broader global evidence and identifying practical pathways for sustainable implementation of psychoeducational caregiver support within primary care structures in LMICs.
Discussion: Evans et al. demonstrate improvements in caregiver emotional regulation, burden reduction, and self-efficacy across group-based, hybrid, and digital psychoeducational models. These effects are linked to peer normalization, communication skill-building, and structured emotional support. Nevertheless, significant heterogeneity in intervention design and limited long-term follow-up highlights the need for standardized implementation frameworks and long-term sustainability planning. Cultural adaptation emerged as a key facilitator of program feasibility and acceptability in LMIC contexts. Integration into primary care systems using task-shifting and hybrid delivery approaches may enhance accessibility and scalability.
Conclusion: Psychoeducational caregiver support is clinically effective, feasible, and ethically essential to dementia care. The primary challenge now lies in achieving system-level integration.
Keywords
Psychoeducation, Family Caregivers, Dementia, Low- and Middle-Income Countries, Caregiver Burden, Primary Care