Abstract
BackgroundDementia is an incurable disease with devastating consequences for both patients and their relatives. The objective of this study is to describe the study protocol of a randomized controlled trial with assignment to either usual care or case-management by district nurses, among informal caregivers of older adults with dementia symptoms who live at home and the older adults who receive informal care.Methods/designIn this randomized controlled trial, effectiveness as well as cost-effectiveness of case-management is evaluated. It concerns case-management in early-detected patients with dementia symptoms and their primary informal caregivers. Participants are followed up to twelve months after baseline assessment. The main outcome measure of the effect evaluation is the caregiver's sense of competence to care for the older person with dementia symptoms. The economic evaluation is performed from a societal perspective.DiscussionThis is one of the first trials on case-management that includes an economic evaluation. In addition, it concerns a tailor-made intervention in early-detected patients with dementia symptoms and their caregivers. The results of this randomized controlled trial will provide valuable information for health professionals and policy makers on effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of early tailor-made case-management for patients and their informal caregivers. Moreover, positive effects will challenge current health care systems to move to more pro-active approaches for this group.
Highlights
Dementia is an incurable disease with devastating consequences for both patients and their relatives
We developed a pro-active program, in which the key elements consist of timely detection of dementia symptoms followed by case-management by district nurses among detected patients and their primary informal caregivers
The objective of this paper was to describe the study protocol of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) among informal caregivers of men and women aged 65 years or over with dementia symptoms who live at home, and the men and women they take care of
Summary
Dementia is an incurable disease with devastating consequences for both patients and their relatives. Dementia is a major public health problem with enormous costs to society [1]. It is an incurable progressive disease with devastating consequences for both patients and their relatives. Over the years the number of demented older persons will increase substantially as a result of aging populations [3]. Informal caregivers, such as relatives, neighbors and friends, care for most patients with dementia. Informal caregivers often experience adverse psychological, physical, social, and financial consequences [5]. Many caregivers reduce or give-up the time spent on paid jobs and social activities [4]
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