A comparison of a community-based dementia support programme and nursing home-based day care: Effects on carer needs, emotional burden and quality of life.

Objectives: Within an implementation study, we investigated the effectiveness of a combined community-based day care programme for persons with dementia and their carers versus traditional psychogeriatric nursing home-based day care. The effects on needs, sense of competence, burden and quality of life of the family carers were studied.

Methods: A pretest-posttest control group design among family carers of people with dementia who joined community-based day care centres ( = 67) or nursing home-based day care centres ( = 64).

[Implementation and (cost-)effectiveness of case management for people with dementia and their informal caregivers: results of the COMPAS study].

Background: Different forms of case management for dementia have emerged over the past few years. In the COMPAS study (Collaborative dementia care for patients and caregivers study), two prominent Dutch case management forms were studied: the linkage and the integrated care form.

Aim Of Study: Evaluation of the (cost)effectiveness of two dementia case management forms compared to usual care as well as factors that facilitated or impeded their implementation.

The Cost-Effectiveness of Two Forms of Case Management Compared to a Control Group for Persons with Dementia and Their Informal Caregivers from a Societal Perspective.

Objectives: The objective of this article was to compare the costs and cost-effectiveness of the two most prominent types of case management in the Netherlands (intensive case management and linkage models) against no access to case management (control group) for people with already diagnosed dementia and their informal caregivers.

Methods: The economic evaluation was conducted from a societal perspective embedded within a two year prospective, observational, controlled, cohort study with 521 informal caregivers and community-dwelling persons with dementia. Case management provided within one care organization (intensive case management model, ICMM), case management where care was provided by different care organizations within one region (Linkage model, LM), and a group with no access to case management (control) were compared.

Community day care with carer support versus usual nursing home-based day care: effects on needs, behavior, mood, and quality of life of people with dementia.

Background: Several studies have shown that the combined community-based Meeting Centres Support Programme (MCSP) for people with mild to moderate dementia and their carers were more effective in reducing behavior and mood problems of people with dementia than traditional nursing home-based (NH) day care. We therefore investigated in this study whether community-based (CO) psychogeriatric day care for people with mild to severe dementia combined with carer support (in accordance with the MCSP), is more effective than regular NH day care.

Methods: A pre-test-post-test control group design was used to compare the effect of CO and NH day care on care needs, behavior and mood problems, and quality of life of people with dementia.

Community-dwelling patients with dementia and their informal caregivers with and without case management: 2-year outcomes of a pragmatic trial.

Objective: To evaluate outcomes for persons with dementia and primary informal caregivers of 2 types of implemented case management (intensive case management [ICMM] and linkage [LM] models) with no case management (control group).

Design: A pragmatic trial using a prospective, observational, controlled, cohort study.

Setting: Community care in the Netherlands.

[Experiencing dementia: evaluation of Into D'mentia].

Background: Most persons with dementia in the Netherlands live at home, where they are cared for by informal carers such as family members or friends, who offer this care unpaid. Their care-task poses a high burden on these informal carers, increasing the risk of health problems and social isolation. Many informal carers indicate they want more information on the behaviour of those they care for.

Evaluation of DEM-DISC, customized e-advice on health and social support services for informal carers and case managers of people with dementia; a cluster randomized trial.

Background: Few personalized e-interventions are available for informal and professional caregivers of people with dementia. The DEMentia Digital Interactive Social Chart (DEM-DISC) is an ICT tool to support customized disease management in dementia. The aim of this study was to improve and evaluate DEM-DISC, its user-friendliness and usefulness and to investigate the future implementation.

Towards personalized integrated dementia care: a qualitative study into the implementation of different models of case management.

Background: The aim of this process evaluation was to provide insight into facilitators and barriers to the delivery of community-based personalized dementia care of two different case management models, i.e. the linkage model and the combined intensive case management/joint agency model.

Comparing Dutch case management care models for people with dementia and their caregivers: The design of the COMPAS study.

Background: Dementia care in the Netherlands is shifting from fragmented, ad hoc care to more coordinated and personalised care. Case management contributes to this shift. The linkage model and a combination of intensive case management and joint agency care models were selected based on their emerging prominence in the Netherlands.

Usability of a new electronic assistive device for community-dwelling persons with mild dementia.

Objective: To evaluate a newly developed integrated digital prosthetic, the COGKNOW Day Navigator (CDN), to support persons with mild dementia in their daily lives, with memory, social contacts, daily activities and safety.

Methods: A user participatory method was applied in the development process, which consisted of three iterative 1-year cycles with field tests in Amsterdam, Belfast and Luleå. In the successive cycles 16, 14 and 12 persons with dementia and their carers participated.

Memory problems in dementia: adaptation and coping strategies and psychosocial treatments.

Memory problems are generally quite prominent in dementia and they have a significant impact on everyday functioning. Medication developed for Alzheimer's disease, for example, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, can slow down the increase of cognitive impairment for a while. In addition to pharmacotherapy, psychosocial treatment methods are also used, some of which have a positive effect on cognition, for example, cognitive rehabilitation, cognitive stimulation therapy and movement therapy.

Dementelcoach: effect of telephone coaching on carers of community-dwelling people with dementia.

Background: Dementelcoach is a new telephone intervention to support informal caregivers of community dwelling people with dementia. The effectiveness of this intervention was evaluated on burden and mental health problems of informal caregivers.

Methods: A pre-test/post-test comparison group design was used with three groups of informal caregivers.

Personalised caregiver support: effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in subgroups of caregivers of people with dementia.

Objective: Insight into the characteristics of caregivers for whom psychosocial interventions are effective is important for care practice. Until now no systematic reviews were conducted into the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for caregiver subgroups.

Methods: To gain insight into this relationship between caregiver subgroups and intervention outcomes, a first review study was done.

User evaluation of the DEMentia-specific Digital Interactive Social Chart (DEM-DISC). A pilot study among informal carers on its impact, user friendliness and, usefulness.

Objective: The need for information about the disease and coping with the consequences, as well as on available care and welfare services, is frequently unmet in people with dementia and their carers. To provide carers of community-dwelling people with dementia with tailored information, the DEMentia-specific dynamic interactive social chart (DEM-DISC) was developed. The impact on the daily life of people with dementia and their carers, the user friendliness and usefulness of a first prototype of DEM-DISC was evaluated.

What do community-dwelling people with dementia need? A survey of those who are known to care and welfare services.

Background: The aging society will bring an increase in the number of people with dementia living in the community. This will mean a greater demand on care and welfare services to deliver efficient and customized care, which requires a thorough understanding of subjective and objective care needs. This study aims to assess the needs of community-dwelling people with dementia as reported by themselves and by their informal carers.

Validity and reliability of the Dutch version of the Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly in community-dwelling people with dementia.

Background: Tailor-made care in dementia requires an individual needs assessment. The Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE) was developed to assess needs of older people with mental disorders. In this study the validity and reliability of the Dutch version of the CANE were studied among community-dwelling persons with dementia and their informal carers.

Subjective needs of people with dementia: a review of the literature.

Objective: Insight into the individual care needs of the growing number of people with dementia is necessary to deliver more customized care. Our study aims to provide an overview of the literature on the subjective needs of people with dementia.

Method: Electronic databases were searched for publications on subjective needs between January 1985 and July 2005, and reference lists were cross-referenced.

The emotional impact of psychiatric symptoms in dementia on partner caregivers: do caregiver, patient, and situation characteristics make a difference?

This study aims to investigate the emotional impact of psychiatric symptoms of patients with dementia on their caregiving partners, and to explore if caregiver, patient, and situation factors predict this emotional impact on caregivers. A cross-sectional design was used. Partners of patients with slight to moderately severe dementia who live in the community (n = 85) were interviewed.

Facilitators and barriers in the implementation of the meeting centres model for people with dementia and their carers.

The implementation of care innovations that have been proven effective is not matter-of-course. In this study, we traced facilitating and impeding factors in the implementation of thirteen meeting centres for people with dementia and their carers in five different regions in The Netherlands. To guide the data collection and analyses, a theoretical model was developed that distinguishes different phases of implementation, and factors at the level of characteristics of the innovation and other preconditions.