Dementia Care

Description

The Dementia Care research portfolio encompasses topics ranging from economic analyses to the development of novel care interventions. BSR supports studies of the design, organization, and financing of models of dementia care across a variety of settings and their impact on the health and well-being of persons living with dementia (PLWD). This includes research on how regulatory and economic incentives and constraints affect access, quality, and health outcomes for PLWD, as well as trends and differences in expenditures and other burdens across regions, household types, socioeconomic status, and racial/ethnic groups. Additional work focuses on assessing the level of unmet need for long term services and supports (LTSS) across all stages of disease and levels of impairment, as well as research on the paid dementia care workforce characteristics and training needs. The portfolio also includes studies of the economic impact of dementia care on individuals, families, and society; the impact of dementia diagnosis; the lived experience of PLWD, including those living alone or without care partners; technologies for aging in place; and elder mistreatment in formal care settings.

Recently, NIA partnered with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to assess the evidence for care interventions for persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The AHRQ review, Care Interventions for People Living With Dementia and Their Caregivers (PDF, 8.0M), and the accompanying NASEM consensus study report, Meeting the Challenge of Caring for Persons Living With Dementia and Their Care Partners and Caregivers, found opportunities to improve and strengthen the dementia care research base. Many of the research gaps identified in the AHRQ and NASEM reports have been on our radar for some time and are consistent with other feedback we use to inform our research priorities. We have invested in multiple research infrastructure projects aimed at improving the rigor of behavioral intervention development for dementia care and caregiver research, including the Roybal Centers for Translational Research on Dementia Care Provider Support and the NIA Imbedded Pragmatic AD/ADRD Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Collaboratory. These projects were designed to catalyze widespread, systems-level changes and establish a research pipeline to strengthen dementia care and caregiving intervention research, which is critical to address the gaps and opportunities raised in both reports.

Related AD+ADRD Research Implementation Milestones: 10A, 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D, 11E, 11F, 11G, 13G, 13H, 13I, 13K, 14F

Active Projects as of September 2021: Dementia care

Research Programs and Contacts