Instruments for assessing social health in the context of cognitive decline and dementia: a systematic review.

The concept of social health has recently received increasing attention in dementia research. Various notions of what social health is and how it can be measured are circulating. They may pose challenges for comparing results and interpreting them for the development of interventions.

Cost-utility analysis of adapted problem adaptation therapy for depression in mild-to-moderate dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease: PATHFINDER randomised controlled trial.

Background: Depression is common in people with dementia, and negatively affects quality of life.

Aims: This paper aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of an intervention for depression in mild and moderate dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease over 12 months (PATHFINDER trial), from both the health and social care and societal perspectives.

Method: A total of 336 participants were randomised to receive the adapted PATH intervention in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) ( = 168) or TAU alone ( = 168).

Operationalising the Recovery College model with people living with dementia: a realist review.

Objectives: Post-diagnostic support is a significant factor in facilitating personal recovery following a diagnosis of dementia, but access is often inconsistent and insufficient. Recovery Colleges offer peer-led, co-produced courses that can support people to have meaningful lives and have been adapted for use in the context of dementia. A realist review was conducted to understand the application and sustainability of Recovery College dementia courses.

Adapted problem adaptation therapy for depression in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease dementia: A randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Trials of effectiveness of treatment options for depression in dementia are an important priority.

Methods: Randomized controlled trial to assess adapted Problem Adaptation Therapy (PATH) for depression in mild/moderate dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease.

Results: Three hundred thirty-six participants with mild or moderate dementia, >7 on Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), randomized to adapted PATH or treatment as usual.

Data resource profile: the virtual international care homes trials archive (VICHTA).

Introduction: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in care home settings address a range of health conditions impacting older people, but often include a common core of data about residents and the care home environment. These data can be used to inform service provision, but accessing these data can be challenging.

Methods: The Virtual International Care Home Trials Archive (VICHTA) collates care home RCTs conducted since 2010, with >100 participants, across multiple conditions, with documented eligibility criteria, initially identified from a scoping review.

Protocol for a realist evaluation of Recovery College dementia courses: understanding coproduction through ethnography.

Introduction: Support following a dementia diagnosis in the UK is variable. Attending a Recovery College course with and for people with dementia, their supporters and healthcare professionals (staff), may enable people to explore and enact ways to live well with dementia. Recovery Colleges are established within mental health services worldwide, offering peer-supported short courses coproduced in partnership between staff and people with lived experience of mental illness.

The memory clinic and psychosocial intervention: Translating past promise into current practices.

Disproportionate negative effects since the pandemic have amplified the already limited post-diagnostic support for older people with dementia. This paper summarizes an exploratory randomized controlled study of a proactive family-based intervention compared with "usual" post-diagnostic dementia care. Memory clinic practitioners collaborated with the family doctor (GP) to coordinate this.

"The Dynamic Nature of Being a Person": An Ethnographic Study of People Living With Dementia in Their Communities.

Background And Objectives: A dementia diagnosis can affect social interactions. This study aims to understand how people living with dementia act as social beings within everyday interactions in their local communities.

Research Design And Methods: Focused ethnography informed by Spradley's approach to data collection and analysis.

Management of Agitation in Behaviours That Challenge in Dementia Care: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Non-Pharmacological Strategies.

Objective: NICE guidelines recommend non-pharmacological interventions as the first-line approach for the management of behaviours that challenge. Recent work, however, highlights dissatisfaction with the lack of detailed guidance in the national guidelines regarding non-drug interventions. This study examines the views of practitioners regarding non-pharmacological treatments.

A Web-Based Self-management App for Living Well With Dementia: User-Centered Development Study.

Background: Self-management, autonomy, and quality of life are key constructs in enabling people to live well with dementia. This population often becomes isolated following diagnosis, but it is important for them to feel encouraged to maintain their daily activities and stay socially active. Promoting Independence in Dementia (PRIDE) fosters social inclusion and greater dementia self-management through an interactive handbook.

Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on neuropsychiatric symptoms and antipsychotic prescribing for people with dementia in nursing home settings.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on neuropsychiatric symptoms and antipsychotic use in people with dementia living in nursing homes.

Methods: This was a comparative analysis of baseline data from two large nursing home studies, one conducted during (COVID-iWHELD study) and one prior (WHELD study) to the pandemic. It involves data from 69 and 149 nursing homes, and 1006 and 666 participants respectively.

Stigma among UK family carers of people living with dementia.

Background: Models of caregiving seldom include the role of stigma when understanding the experiences of carers of people living with dementia.

Aims: To investigate the validity of the Family Stigma Instrument (FAMSI), and use it to explore the extent to which experiences of stigma are endorsed in family carers of people living with dementia.

Method: The FAMSI was tested with 70 carers of people living with dementia.

The Journeying through Dementia psychosocial intervention versus usual care study: a single-blind, parallel group, phase 3 trial.

Background: There is an urgent clinical need for evidence-based psychosocial interventions for people with mild dementia. We aimed to determine the clinical benefits and cost-effectiveness of Journeying through Dementia (JtD), an intervention designed to promote wellbeing and independence in people with mild dementia.

Methods: We did a single-blind, parallel group, individually randomised, phase 3 trial at 13 National Health Service sites across England.

Person-centered assessment of apathy and resistance to care in people living with dementia: Review of existing measures.

Introduction: The review described in this paper builds upon the Dementia Care Practice Recommendations (DCPR) published by the Alzheimer's Association in 2018 and addresses behavior change and the need for targeted outcome measures that evolve from person-centered frameworks and help evaluate interventions. Apathy and resistance to care (RTC) are two specific behavioral expressions of unmet need or distress exhibited by people living with dementia, which are upsetting to formal and family caregivers and compromise quality of life for people living with dementia.

Methods: We conducted literature searches of major databases (PsycInfo, PubMed, EBSCO, CINAHL) for papers examining apathy and RTC constructs in samples of people living with dementia.

An intervention to promote self-management, independence and self-efficacy in people with early-stage dementia: the Journeying through Dementia RCT.

Background: There are few effective interventions for dementia.

Aim: To determine the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an intervention to promote self-management, independence and self-efficacy in people with early-stage dementia.

Objectives: To undertake a randomised controlled trial of the Journeying through Dementia intervention compared with usual care, conduct an internal pilot testing feasibility, assess intervention delivery fidelity and undertake a qualitative exploration of participants' experiences.

Family carer perspectives on the language of behaviour change in dementia: an online mixed methods survey.

Objective: following the #BanBPSD campaign there has been critical interest in common terminology used for 'changes in behaviour' associated with dementia. However, commentaries and emerging studies have not fully considered family carer perspectives. This study explores the views of family carers on terminology and language for this paradigm.

Achieving Quality and Effectiveness in Dementia Using Crisis Teams (AQUEDUCT): a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of a Resource Kit.

Background: Improving care at home for people with dementia is a core policy goal in the dementia strategies of many European countries. A challenge to effective home support is the occurrence of crises in the care of people with dementia which arise from changes in their health and social circumstances. Improving the management of these crises may prevent hospital admissions and facilitate better and longer care at home.

Professional perspectives on applying the NICE and British Psychological Society Guidelines for the management of Behaviours that Challenge in dementia care: an e-survey.

Objectives: Behaviours that challenge (BtC) reflect the most costly and burdensome aspects of dementia where non-pharmacological interventions rather than antipsychotic medication have been recommended as first-line approaches for over a decade (NICE 2006). This paper outlines professionals' views about their application of the Dementia NICE Guideline 97 (2018) and a British Psychological Society, Division of Clinical Psychology (BPS-DCP) Briefing paper (2013) on alternatives to antipsychotics.

Methods: A mixed-methods 34-item e-survey, with five items about the use of the NICE Guideline 97 (2018) and the BPS-DCP Briefing paper (2013) for the management of BtC, was conducted.

Promoting Independence in Dementia (PRIDE): A Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: There is a need for interventions to foster and maintain independence for people with dementia to support community living, improve morale, and reduce stigma. We investigated a social intervention to promote living well and enhance independence for people with mild dementia.

Methods: In this two arm parallel group, feasibility RCT at six sites in England, participants were randomized (1:1) to the PRIDE intervention (encompassing social, physical, and cognitive domains supported by a facilitator over three sessions) compared to usual care only.

The language of behaviour changes in dementia: A mixed methods survey exploring the perspectives of people with dementia.

Aims: The aim of this study was to explore the opinions of people with dementia, about the language used to describe changes in behaviour associated with dementia.

Design: This study adopted a human rights approach in a mixed methods convergent parallel synthesis design.

Methods: Online and paper-based questionnaire data were collected between November 2019 and March 2020.