Effects of circle dance (CircleCare) on the physical and mental health of women caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer's disease: a randomized controlled study.

Dancing can be an alternative to traditional intervention programs for caregivers. This study aims to examine the effects of the Brazilian Circle Dance Program (CircleCare) on the physical and mental health of family caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Twenty-five caregivers over the age of 50 were randomized into an Intervention Group (IG, n = 13, CircleCare, 60 min, 2x/week for 12 weeks) and a Control Group (CG, n = 12, without intervention). Physical health was assessed using measures of functional mobility, walking speed, and lower limb strength. Mental health was assessed using measures of cognition, caregiver burden, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and quality of life. Frailty was assessed using the frailty phenotype. The Statistical analysis was performed using two-way repeated-measures ANOVA (significance level 5%). Only the IG shows improvements in functional mobility (p < 0.001), burden (p = 0.001), stress level (p = 0.045) and contribution to a transition from pre-frail to non-frail. However, CircleCare was not sufficient to induce applied responses concerning walking speed, lower limb strength, cognition and quality of life. CircleCare can be considered as an intervention option for caregivers of older people with AD, especially middle-aged and older women, as it was effective in improving functional mobility, burden, stress level and contributed to the transition from pre-frailty to non-frailty. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Number NCT03081533. Registered 2 March 2017, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03081533.