{
  "abstract": "Background and purpose\n\nFamily caregivers of people with dementia carry psychological burden, yet brief physician-delivered caregiver counseling within routine hospital care is neither standardized nor routinely reimbursed in Korea. We evaluated changes in caregiver distress, burden, and depressive symptoms after a structured, hospital-based counseling and education program delivered by physicians.Methods\n\nThis secondary analysis used data from a Korean Dementia Association multicenter pilot project at 25 hospitals. Primary caregivers of patients with mild cognitive impairment or dementia completed a 6-item distress checklist, the 4-item Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), and the 15-item Short-Form Geriatric Depression Scale (SGDepS) before and within 7 days after a single session (45 minutes). Pre-post changes were tested with Wilcoxon signed-rank tests; baseline-adjusted and multivariable regression models explored characteristics associated with change.Results\n\nOf 210 caregivers, 202 completed both assessments (mean age 59.7 years; 70.3% female; 54.5% spouses). Mean scores decreased from 1.916 to 1.535 for distress, 6.114 to 5.104 for ZBI, and 4.406 to 3.604 for SGDepS (all p<0.001), with reductions in 31.2%, 51.0%, and 44.6% of caregivers, respectively. No patient or caregiver characteristic was associated with the magnitude of change after baseline adjustment. Satisfaction was high (4.3±0.8 of 5) and weakly correlated with greater reductions in distress (ρ=-0.17) and burden (ρ=-0.16).Conclusions\n\nA brief, physician-led caregiver counseling program using standardized materials with tailored module selection, integrated into hospital dementia care was followed by short-term reductions in caregiver distress, burden, and depressive symptoms with high acceptability, supporting controlled evaluation and policy consideration of its reimbursement.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Neurology, Ewha Womans University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Inha University College of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Yongin Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Yongin, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Uijeongbu, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Dongsuwon General Hospital, Suwon, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Konkuk University Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, Seoul, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Pusan National University Hospital, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Busan, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Jeonbuk National University Medical School and Hospital, Jeonju, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, International St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic Kwandong University College of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Heavenly Hospital, Goyang, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.",
    "National Institute of Dementia, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.",
    "Bobath Memorial Hospital, Seongnam, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Incheon St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Incheon, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Haeundae Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, College of Medicine, Gachon University, Incheon, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Korea University Anam Hospital, Seoul, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, St. Vincent's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Suwon, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.",
    "Department of Neurology, Daejeon Eulji Medical Center, Eulji University, Daejeon, Korea."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 32,
  "authors": [
    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Hee-Jung Ha",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-7178-0916"
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        0,
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      "name": "Geon Ha Kim",
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      "name": "Seong Hye Choi",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4180-8626"
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        3
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      "name": "Min Young Chun",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3731-6132"
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      "name": "Yun Jeong Hong",
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      "name": "Jihye Hwang",
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        6
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      "name": "Jae-Won Jang",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3540-530X"
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        7
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      "name": "Da Won Jeong",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-9256-8334"
    },
    {
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        8
      ],
      "name": "Eun-Joo Kim",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8460-1377"
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    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Hee-Jin Kim",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7880-690X"
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      "name": "Ko Woon Kim",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4564-9714"
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      "name": "Yeshin Kim",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4643-5478"
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    {
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        11
      ],
      "name": "Bon D Ku",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4324-6513"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Eun Ah Lee",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-9043-4840"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Eun Hye Lee",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4206-6214"
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    {
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        13,
        14
      ],
      "name": "Sun Min Lee",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5917-015X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        15
      ],
      "name": "So Young Moon",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1025-1968"
    },
    {
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        6
      ],
      "name": "Yeonsil Moon",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7770-4127"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Ye Sol Mun",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5067-8667"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        16
      ],
      "name": "Duk L Na",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0098-7592"
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    {
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        17
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      "name": "Haeri Na",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3419-8428"
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      "name": "Seunghee Na",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8578-8578"
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    {
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        19
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      "name": "Jinse Park",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8738-5422"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        20
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      "name": "Kee Hyung Park",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6847-6679"
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      "name": "Kun-Woo Park",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6526-614X"
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        22
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      "name": "YongSoo Shim",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5642-5401"
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        23
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      "name": "Dong Won Yang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4733-7298"
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        1
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      "name": "Jiyoung Yeom",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6325-1008"
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      "name": "Rayoung Yoo",
      "orcid": "0009-0001-4871-258X"
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        23
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      "name": "Bora Yoon",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1135-3392"
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        24
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      "name": "Soo Jin Yoon",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3753-1465"
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    {
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        0,
        7
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      "name": "Jee Hyang Jeong",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7945-6956"
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  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/63ezybcxp0f27.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.12779/dnd.2026.25.4.210",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13748001",
  "id": "63ezybcxp0f27",
  "issns": [
    "1738-1495",
    "2384-0757"
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  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/43011264",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2738|Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research"
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  "openalex": "W7224915704",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13748001?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13748001",
  "pmid": "43011264",
  "published": "2026-10-26",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/63ezybcxp0f27.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-12T15:25:13Z",
      "native_id": "MED:43011264",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/43011264"
    }
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2738|Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Changes in Caregiver Burden, Psychological Distress, and Depressive Symptoms Following a Physician-Led Standardized Counseling and Education Program for Caregivers of Patients With Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Multicenter Pre-Post Study.",
  "title_text": "Changes in Caregiver Burden, Psychological Distress, and Depressive Symptoms Following a Physician-Led Standardized Counseling and Education Program for Caregivers of Patients With Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Multicenter Pre-Post Study.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-13T03:21:10Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/63ezybcxp0f27",
  "venue": "Dementia and neurocognitive disorders",
  "versions": []
}