Involving service users in the development of the Support at Home: Interventions to Enhance Life in Dementia Carer Supporter Programme for family carers of people with dementia.

Background: Involving service users in research can be an effective way of improving the practicalities and acceptability of interventions for target end users.

Objectives: The current paper presented two consensus methods, not commonly used in consultation with service users, to develop a peer support intervention for family carers of people with dementia (SHIELD Carer Supporter Programme).

Design: Study 1 was a modified Delphi process combined with a consensus conference to explore details of the intervention from the carer and volunteer perspective.

Family carers' distress and abusive behaviour: longitudinal study.

Background: A third of family carers of people with dementia report abusive behaviour towards the person for whom they are caring. This is the first longitudinal study to investigate such behaviour.

Aims: To test our hypotheses that carers' reports of abusive behaviour would increase over time, and that change in abuse scores would be predicted by change in anxiety and depression scores.

Antidementia drugs: prescription by level of cognitive impairment or by socio-economic group?

Objectives: We aimed to investigate for the first time whether cholinesterase inhibitor prescription was associated with economic status in a population of people with dementia.

Method: We recruited 215 people with dementia, living independently, who were consecutively referred to five Community Mental Health Teams in London and Essex. We tested our hypothesis that home owners were more likely to be prescribed cholinesterase inhibitors than those who rented their accommodation.

Knowledge, detection, and reporting of abuse by health and social care professionals: a systematic review.

The authors systematically reviewed the 32 articles fitting predetermined criteria that investigated health and social care professionals' knowledge, detection, and reporting of elder abuse. These included 21 surveys (of 5,325 professionals), nine analyses of elder abuse reports to statutory bodies, and two intervention studies. Compatible results were pooled in a meta-analysis.

The sensitivity and specificity of the Modified Conflict Tactics Scale for detecting clinically significant elder abuse.

Background: A third of family carers of people with dementia describe acting abusively in research studies, but far fewer cases of abuse are currently detected in clinical situations. This discrepancy may be explained by inadequate detection by health professionals, or disagreement regarding what constitutes elder abuse. This study was undertaken to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the revised Modified Conflict Tactics Scale (MCTS) for detecting clinically significant abuse.

What would help me stop abusing? The family carer's perspective.

Background: A third of family members caring for people with dementia report acting abusively towards them, but there are currently no evidence-based interventions to reduce or prevent such behavior. Family carers who act abusively have not previously been consulted about what may help to reduce abuse.

Method: We prospectively recruited a consecutive sample of 220 family carers of people with dementia referred to secondary psychiatric services.

Abuse of people with dementia by family carers: representative cross sectional survey.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of abusive behaviours by family carers of people with dementia.

Design: Representative cross sectional survey

Setting: Community mental health teams in Essex and London.

Participants: 220 family carers of people newly referred to secondary psychiatric services with dementia who were living at home.

The prevalence of elder abuse and neglect: a systematic review.

Objective: to perform a systematic review of studies measuring the prevalence of elder abuse or neglect, either reported by older people themselves, or family and professional caregivers or investigated using objective measures.

Methods: we conducted a comprehensive literature search of multiple databases up to October 2006, supplemented by a search of the references of all relevant articles. Validity of studies was graded by two authors independently using a standardised checklist.

What is elder abuse--who decides?

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that family and professional caregivers have different views about what constitutes elder abuse.

Design: A vignette was given to family and professional carers. They were asked to rate 13 management strategies for behavioural difficulties in a person with dementia on a Likert scale ranging from good idea to abusive.

A systematic review of intervention studies about anxiety in caregivers of people with dementia.

Background: There is considerable literature on managing depression, burden and psychological morbidity in caregivers of people with dementia (CG). Anxiety has been a relatively neglected outcome measure but may require specific interventions.

Objective: To synthesise evidence regarding interventions that reduce anxiety in CGs.

Quality of life in dementia--a one-year follow-up study.

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is becoming an increasingly used outcome measure in both clinical practice and research but little is known about QoL in dementia and how it may change over time.

Objective: To study longitudinal change in quality of life over a period of one year in 60 people with dementia aged 65 years or over.

Methods: The original sample was selected from inpatient, day hospital, nursing home and residential home settings within a London Mental Health Trust.