Development of a Tool to Assess Social Functioning in Dementia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development and testing of a tool to assess social functioning in dementia
IRAS ID
149859
Contact name
Andrew Sommerlad
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
14/0794, UCL R&D Project ID Number; Z6364106/2014/11/34, UCL Data Protection Registration Number
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
People with dementia are expected to decline in their social functioning. Interactions with close family, contact with wider social network and engagement in social and leisure activities all typically decline in people with advanced dementia. Research based upon speaking to healthy people and those with dementia suggests that this social decline is one of the aspects of dementia that people most fear. However, we do not have an assessment tool which allows us to measure changes in social functioning in those with dementia or the social effect of treatments for dementia. This research project proposes to develop a measure and test its quality.
We propose to initally talk to people with early dementia and their family carers in order to understand what social changes people have experienced in the early stages of dementia. We will then create questionnaires to measure important aspects of social functioning. These will be completed by an interviewer, such as a doctor or nurse, through talking to the person with dementia and a family carer – two questionnaires will differ slightly according to whether it is completed by interviewing the person with dementia or the carer.
We will then test the questionnaire in a number of ways. We will discuss with experts whether it covers the important areas and show it to patients and carers to check whether the questions are easy to understand and answer. We will test important properties of the questionnaire including whether it accurately tests what it is supposed to test and whether the results are reliable.
We expect that this study will result in the development of a valid and reliable measure for social function which will encourage dementia researchers to develop treatments which maintain people with dementia’s social functioning.
REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0105
Date of REC Opinion
6 Feb 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion