Gitlin, L. N.

Background: People living with dementia (PLWD) and caregivers are adversely impacted by lack of meaningful activity leading to worse symptoms and impaired quality-of-life. There is a critical need to develop effective and well-tolerated treatments that mitigate clinical symptoms, engage PLWD and support caregiver wellbeing. We tested whether, compared to attention control, the Tailored Activity Program (TAP) reduced clinical symptoms and health-related events, and improved caregiver wellbeing, and if TAP activities were well-tolerated.

Background and objectives: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia are highly prevalent, stressful, and challenging to manage. Caregivers’ approaches for handling these behaviors have implications for both care partners’ well-being. Yet the specific strategies that caregivers use in their daily management of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia are relatively unknown. This study used in-depth focus group data to examine family caregivers’ strategies for managing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether delivery of a dyadic intervention using telehealth was noninferior to delivery of the same program using traditional face-to-face delivery through home visits. Design: We conducted a noninferiority randomized controlled trial. Participants: Participants had a diagnosis of dementia, were living in the community, and had an informal caregiver who reported difficulties in managing activities of daily living or behavioral symptoms.

The Kintun program is the first public health strategy specifically designed for dementia care in Chile. It was launched in 2013 in the city of Santiago with support from the National Service for the Elderly and the Municipality of Peñalolén. Using an interdisciplinary team, the program seeks to promote community integration and better support for persons with dementia and their caregivers. The multicomponent program includes: an activity-based day care center, training and education of family caregivers, home visits, and community outreach to increase dementia awareness.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE Adult day services (ADSs) that provide community‐based supervised support for persons with dementia (PWD) may also function as a respite for familial caregivers to attend to self‐care needs. Guided by a revised version of the Andersen Healthcare Utilization Model, the objective of this study was to identify the association between use of ADSs and a missed physician's appointment among family caregivers for community‐dwelling familial PWD.