Dementia interview study, v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development of an intervention to improve medicines management for persons with dementia in primary care in Northern Ireland
IRAS ID
174296
Contact name
Heather E. Barry
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen's University Belfast
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
People with dementia have unique medication needs compared with the general older population, due to their impaired cognition and communication skills. It is widely acknowledged that carers can play a key role in helping people with dementia to manage their medications. In addition, the challenges faced by this patient population may influence doctors prescribe and manage these patients. There has been limited research on prescribing, review, administration and adherence to medicines (all parts of medicines management) in people with dementia, particularly for those living at home and managed within primary care. The aim of this study is to improve medicines management for people with dementia, with patients, carers and healthcare professionals helping us to do so.
There are three phases to this study. In the first phase a qualitative methodology will be used. We will conduct semi-structured interviews with people with people with dementia and carers, to understand their experiences of medicines management and the barriers and facilitators they have to adhering to their prescribed regimens. Interviews will also be conducted with GPs and community pharmacists to obtain their views on how this study could be developed. In the second phase of the study, we will combine all of the data collected in Phase 1 with data from an ongoing study on appropriateness of prescribing for people with dementia, to develop a plan of how to improve medicines management for people with dementia and their carers. In the third phase, we will test our plan in two general practices in Northern Ireland, but this is not included in this application. It will be the subject of a separate application.
REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EE/0103
Date of REC Opinion
25 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion