Mechanisms of impact and contextual aspects of a dementia special care unit in long-term care: a process evaluation.

Background: In long-term care, persons with dementia are often cared for in specialised facilities, which are rather heterogeneous in regard to care concepts. Little information is available on how these facilities and care concepts bring about changes in the targeted outcomes. Such knowledge is needed to understand the effects of care concepts and to consciously shape further developments.

Engagement in purposeful activities and social interactions amongst persons with dementia in special care units compared to traditional nursing homes: An observational study.

Background: Persons with dementia spend most time of their day not engaging in activities or social interactions. A care concept of a dementia special care unit that promotes activities and social interaction through a household-like design and individualised stimuli is studied.

Aim: To evaluate the main outcomes of the care concept of a dementia special care unit, namely, engagement in activities and social interactions.

Health services research in colorectal cancer: a quasi-experimental interventional pilot study on in- and outpatient oncology.

Introduction: Due to frequent treatment side effects and weight loss, colorectal cancer patients require oncologic care and nutritional counseling both during and after hospitalization. The current study evaluated differences in discharge and side effects management and nutritional behavior between colorectal cancer patients of a control group without systematic counseling and of an intervention group with access to structured in- and outpatient oncology nurse and nutritional counseling.

Methods: The presented explorative, quantitative, single-center, interventional pilot study is a health services research project with a quasi-experimental design.

Social interactions of persons with dementia living in special care units in long-term care: A mixed-methods systematic review.

Background: Special care units are a well-utilized approach in the long-term care for persons with dementia. A therapeutic goal of such settings is to provide meaningful engagement and a sense of community that is crucial for the overall quality of life. In recent years, several studies followed this notion by investigating residents' social interactions and the influence of the environment on these interactions.

[Prevention of malnutrition in institutional long-term care with the DNQP "nutrition management" expert standard].

Malnutrition is a big challenge in long-term care. There are a variety of reasons for developing malnutrition; they can be disease-related as well as psychosocial. However, the consequences can be seriously health threatening.

Prediction of Nursing Workload in Hospital.

A dissertation project at the Witten/Herdecke University [1] is investigating which (nursing sensitive) patient characteristics are suitable for predicting a higher or lower degree of nursing workload. For this research project four predictive modelling methods were selected. In a first step, SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE, RANDOM FOREST, and GRADIENT BOOSTING were used to identify potential predictors from the nursing sensitive patient characteristics.

[Development of a program theory as a basis for the evaluation of a dementia special care unit].

Background: An existing dementia special care unit should be evaluated. In order to build a sound foundation of the evaluation a deep theoretical understanding of the implemented intervention is needed, which has not been explicated yet. One possibility to achieve this is the development of a program theory.

Advancement of the German version of the moral distress scale for acute care nurses-A mixed methods study.

Aim: Moral distress experienced by nurses in acute care hospitals can adversely impact the affected nurses, their patients and their hospitals; therefore, it is advisable for organizations to establish internal monitoring of moral distress. However, until now, no suitable questionnaire has been available for use in German-speaking contexts. Hence, the aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically test a German-language version of the Moral Distress Scale.

Development and evaluation of the content validity, practicability and feasibility of the Innovative dementia-oriented Assessment system for challenging behaviour in residents with dementia.

Background: One of the most difficult issues for care staff is the manifestation of challenging behaviour among residents with dementia. The first step in managing this type of behaviour is analysing its triggers. A structured assessment instrument can facilitate this process and may improve carers' management of the situation.

[Standardised pain assessment in cognitively impaired nursing home residents: Comparing the use of assessment tools in dementia care units and in integrated care units].

Background: A large number of nursing home residents with cognitive impairments (CI) suffer from chronic pain, which is also discussed as a reason for challenging behavior. To assess pain in people with severe CI, the use of an observational pain instrument is recommended; for people without or with mild CI the gold standard is a self-rating instrument. It is unknown whether in German nursing homes pain assessment in residents with severe CI is actually conducted using observational instruments and which instruments are used.

Implementing Dementia Care Mapping to develop person-centred care: results of a process evaluation within the Leben-QD II trial.

Aims And Objectives: To evaluate Dementia Care Mapping implementation in nursing homes.

Background: Dementia Care Mapping, an internationally applied method for supporting and enhancing person-centred care for people with dementia, must be successfully implemented into care practice for its effective use. Various factors influence the implementation of complex interventions such as Dementia Care Mapping; few studies have examined the specific factors influencing Dementia Care Mapping implementation.

Item distribution, internal consistency and inter-rater reliability of the German version of the QUALIDEM for people with mild to severe and very severe dementia.

Background: The QUALIDEM is a dementia-specific Quality of life (Qol) instrument that is recommended for longitudinal studies and advanced stages of dementia. Our study aimed to develop a user guide for the German version of the QUALIDEM and to determine the item distribution, internal consistency and inter-rater reliability (IRR) of the German QUALIDEM.

Methods: A user guide was developed based on cognitive interviews with ten professional caregivers and a focus group with six professional caregivers.

Handover between home and respite care concerning people with dementia: An online survey.

Introduction: Respite care for people with dementia is increasingly promoted. However, little is known about the safety-relevant aspects of handover between home and respite care facilities for people with dementia. We thus focus on the safety-relevant information exchange taking place at the admission to and the discharge from respite care and discuss the need for improvement.

Construct validity and internal consistency of the neuropsychiatric inventory - nursing home (NPI-NH) in German nursing homes.

Background: The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) is one of the most popular and frequently used instruments for assessing so-called challenging behavior in individuals with dementia in research practice. However, no information is available regarding the factor structure of the German version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory - Nursing Home (NPI-NH). The aim of this study was to evaluate the factor structure (an aspect of construct validity) and internal consistency of the NPI-NH for two different stages of dementia severity in a large German nursing home population.

Low-threshold support services for people with dementia within the scope of respite care in Germany - A qualitative study on different stakeholders' perspective.

Low-threshold support services are provided within the basket of services of German long-term care insurance as a part of respite care to support family carers and people with dementia. This study investigates various stakeholders' (providers, coordinators, volunteers, family carers and people with dementia) perspectives on low-threshold support service regarding its organisation and conceptualisation as well as how stakeholders and users value low-threshold support service using a qualitative approach. Twelve guided interviews and group discussions were conducted with 31 participants.

Differences in Case Conferences in Dementia Specific vs Traditional Care Units in German Nursing Homes: Results from a Cross-Sectional Study.

Objectives: To investigate differences in the provision and performance of case conferences for people with dementia between dementia special care units (DSCUs) and traditional care units (TCUs) in nursing homes. Because DSCUs employ more staff, we expect the likelihood of the provision of case conferences to be higher in DSCUs.

Design: Observational cross-sectional study.

Linguistic validation and reliability properties are weak investigated of most dementia-specific quality of life measurements-a systematic review.

Objective: For people with dementia, the concept of quality of life (Qol) reflects the disease's impact on the whole person. Thus, Qol is an increasingly used outcome measure in dementia research. This systematic review was performed to identify available dementia-specific Qol measurements and to assess the quality of linguistic validations and reliability studies of these measurements (PROSPERO 2013: CRD42014008725).

[Admission and discharge of people with dementia- Communication from the perspective of respite care experts].

Background: There is a lack of information regarding the structures and processes of communication between home and respite care at admission and discharge of people with dementia (PwD}. Considering the background,it was aimed to reconstruct information exchange between home and respite care of PwD and to identify factors which affect the quality of communication structure and processes.

Methods: Semi-structured guided telephone interviews with 16 experts out of 15 respite care facilities were conducted.

Dementia care mapping: effects on residents' quality of life and challenging behavior in German nursing homes. A quasi-experimental trial.

Background: Person-centered care (PCC) is a widely recognized concept in dementia research and care. Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) is a method for implementing PCC. Prior studies have yielded heterogeneous results regarding the effectiveness of DCM for people with dementia (PwD).

Assessing the application of non-pharmacological interventions for people with dementia in German nursing homes: feasibility and content validity of the dementia care questionnaire (DemCare-Q).

Background: Non-pharmacological interventions are guideline-recommended as initial treatment for people with dementia in nursing homes. In Germany, there is no instrument available to collect standardized data on the application of all of these interventions; an investigation of their use in large-scale samples is not currently possible. This article describes the development and initial testing of a questionnaire (Dementia Care Questionnaire (DemCare-Q)) to assess provided non-pharmacological interventions in residents with dementia in nursing homes that can be completed by nurses.

Structural characteristics of specialised living units for people with dementia: a cross-sectional study in German nursing homes.

Background: Living units (LU) specialised for people with dementia are an important feature of nursing homes. Little is known about their structural characteristics, and an international definition is lacking. This study explored characteristics of the environment and staff from defined LU types to identify differences between them.

Experiences of nursing staff using dementia-specific case conferences in nursing homes.

Background: Dementia specific-case conferences with the Innovative dementia oriented assessment tool (CC-IdA) could be an important tool with which to analyze and manage challenging behavior. The study gives an insight into nursing staff' experiences using CC-IdA in dementia care.

Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 nursing teams from 12 nursing homes alongside a quasi-experimental study.