National Academies committee provides analysis, recommendations for dementia care and caregiving interventions
On February 23, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released “Meeting the Challenge of Caring for Persons Living with Dementia and Their Care Partners and Caregivers: A Way Forward.” The report is the culmination of a collaboration among the NIH National Institute on Aging, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and NASEM, to develop a comprehensive understanding of the evidence base, for essential care and caregiving interventions for the millions of people living with dementia and their caregivers. 
Using a rigorous systematic review conducted by AHRQ’s Evidence-base Practice Centers (EPC) of the evidence base for effective care and caregiving interventions, the NASEM report identifies research gaps. It provides recommendations to multiple federal agencies for advancing research and disseminating and implementing select interventions aligned with fundamental principles of dementia care.
Specific recommendations include:
- Implementing and evaluating outcomes for collaborative care models in multiple and varied real-world settings and appropriate conditions for monitoring, quality improvement, and information sharing.
- Implementing and evaluating outcomes for REACH II, a multi-component caregiver intervention based on an individualized assessment of caregiver needs, and its adaptions in multiple and varied real-world settings under appropriate conditions for monitoring, quality improvement, and information sharing.
- Using strong, pragmatic, and informative methodologies for care intervention research.
- Prioritizing inclusive research that includes the full range of populations and communities affected by dementia.
- Assessing real-world effectiveness by supporting research capable of providing the evidence that will ultimately be needed to make inclusive decisions and implement interventions in the real work.
The report is available on the NASEM website. Visit AHRQ to read the systematic review.
NIA looks forward to continuing to pursue the important research opportunities identified in the report so that the best, most effective interventions are developed to help the millions of people living with dementia and their care partners and caregivers.