Home and Community based Interventions for Dementia Care: The Challenge of Bringing Evidence to Practice

Abstract

Families are in the forefront of providing care to persons living with dementia throughout the disease trajectory. Nevertheless, they typically do not receive disease education nor support and most are told that there is “nothing that can be done.” However, there are evidence based approaches tested in randomized trials that can help families manage the clinical symptoms of dementia including functional dependence, dementia-related behavioral and psychological symptoms and caregiver distress. Described are a number of proven home and community based programs that have been shown to support quality of life. Also discussed are the challenges of translating this research evidence into clinical settings. The main message of this talk is that there are evidence-based approaches that can be used now yet we have significant challenges bringing the evidence to practice. We must change the “no cure - nothing can be done” message that families receive to the provision of evidence-based strategies that support families at each disease stage. Implications for this research-practice gap for workforce preparation, policy and reimbursement are highlighted.