Background: The effectiveness and efficiency of nursing-home dementia care are suboptimal: there are high rates of neuropsychiatric symptoms among the residents and work-related stress among the staff. Dementia-care mapping is a person-centred care method that may alleviate both the resident and the staff problems. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness […]
Background: Paratonia causes severe movement dysfunction in late stage dementia. Passive Movement Therapy (PMT) is often used to decrease high muscle tone, but the efficacy has never been shown. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of PMT on muscle tone after two and four weeks of treatment.; Methods: This study comprised […]
Background: The aim of this study is evaluating the (cost-) effectiveness of a multidisciplinary, evidence based care program to improve the management of depression in nursing home residents of somatic and dementia special care units. The care program is an evidence based standardization of the management of depression, including standardized use of measurement instruments and […]
Background: Neuropsychiatric symptoms are highly prevalent in nursing home patients with dementia. Despite modest effectiveness and considerable side effects, psychotropic drugs are frequently prescribed for these neuropsychiatric symptoms. This raises questions whether psychotropic drugs are appropriately prescribed. The aim of the PROPER (PRescription Optimization of Psychotropic drugs in Elderly nuRsing home patients with dementia) II […]
Objective: This study aimed to establish whether antipsychotic (AP) use in patients with dementia negatively affects quality of life (QoL) independent of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). Method: We tested 290 patients with dementia living in nine nursing homes throughout the Netherlands in a longitudinal study. The measurements were repeated every 6 months over 2 years. We […]
Background: Dementia-care mapping (DCM) is a cyclic intervention aiming at reducing neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with dementia in nursing homes. Alongside an 18-month cluster-randomized controlled trial in which we studied the effectiveness of DCM on residents and staff outcomes, we investigated differences in costs of care between DCM and usual care in nursing homes. Methods: […]
Background: The effectiveness of dementia-care mapping (DCM) for institutionalised people with dementia has been demonstrated in an explanatory cluster-randomised controlled trial (cRCT) with two DCM researchers carrying out the DCM intervention. In order to be able to inform daily practice, we studied DCM effectiveness in a pragmatic cRCT involving a wide range of care homes […]
Background: Apathy is common in nursing home (NH) residents and it overlaps with depression. This study examines the effects of a multidisciplinary depression program on apathy and depressive motivational and mood symptoms.; Methods: Secondary analyses of a stepped-wedge cluster-randomized controlled trial were conducted with six measurements. Sixteen dementia NH units and 17 somatic units were […]
Background: Depression in nursing-home residents is often under-recognised. We aimed to establish the effectiveness of a structural approach to its management.; Methods: Between May 15, 2009, and April 30, 2011, we undertook a multicentre, stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial in four provinces of the Netherlands. A network of nursing homes was invited to enrol one dementia and […]