Evaluation of CLEAR Dementia Care at Home
Research type
Research Study
Full title
CLEAR Dementia Care at Home: What works, For Who, Why and in what Context?
IRAS ID
269977
Contact name
Christopher Graham
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queens University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 26 days
Research summary
Those with dementia may experience psychological and behavioural symptoms of dementia (BPSD). This includes a range of symptoms including aggression, apathy, sleep difficulties and depression. Some are communication of unmet need and these can cause challenges both for the person with dementia and their caregivers. BPSD has been linked to people being moved to residential care from their own home and presence of BPSD has been linked to caregiver burden. Various interventions are available which focus on management of BPSD and this study aims to evaluate the impact of CLEAR dementia care model used at home by understanding how and why the programme works and for whom. This model takes a person centred approach, considering the life and history of the person with dementia. It assumes that BPSD may communicate unmet need and as a result, understanding and meeting these needs may improve quality of life for the person with dementia. This iteration of the model focuses on caregivers of people with dementia who are living in their own home. It seeks to support caregivers to better understand and manage BPSD with the hope that the person with dementia is able to stay at home. The project will adopt an approach known as realist evaluation. This approach moves beyond establishing if a programme works, and the project uses a novel method to examine what about the programme works, for who it works and why this is the case. It gathers information from a range of sources including outcomes, caregivers and staff to test the theory of why the programme works. This not only provides a better understanding of the model in action but also identifies areas where it may be improved to provide the best care for the greatest number of patients engaged with the service.
REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
20/NI/0017
Date of REC Opinion
27 Mar 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion