title: Best practices interventions to improve quality of care of people with dementia living at home.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify effective interventions which improve quality of care for people with dementia (PwD) living at home.
  
  
  METHODS
  MEDLINE-(via PubMed), CINAHL, PsycINFO and ISI Web of Science databases were searched.
  
  
  METHODS
  (1) randomized controlled trials; (2) published in English-language, peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2012; (3) evaluated strategies to improve quality of care for PwD cared at home; and (4) participants older than 65.
  
  
  RESULTS
  23 studies met inclusion criteria. All the studies aimed to improve PwD quality of care and most of them focused on PwD caregivers. Psychoeducational programs are the most frequently assessed interventions and multicomponent interventions produced the most promising results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to the great variety of interventions describing specific samples and contexts, comparison of practice effectiveness is difficult. However, cognitive rehabilitation in PwD is effective when applied at an early stage of the disease. Case managers have demonstrated to reduce PwD institutionalization and the use of other community services. The studies were limited by sample heterogeneity, short follow-up or insufficiently detailed description.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To improve PwD homecare, health professionals should educate and support caregivers. Before specific interventional recommendations can be made, further research addressing the limitations of current studies is needed.
authors: Nursing Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: azabaleg@clinic.ub.es.
authors: Adelaida
authors: A
authors: Zabalegui
authors: Care of Older People at Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
authors: Jan P H
authors: JP
authors: Hamers
authors: Lund University, Sweden.
authors: Staffan
authors: S
authors: Karlsson
authors: University of Turku, Finland; Hospital District of Southwest, Finland.
authors: Helena
authors: H
authors: Leino-Kilpi
authors: Witten/Herdecke University, Germany.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Renom-Guiteras
authors: University of Tartu, Estonia.
authors: Kai
authors: K
authors: Saks
authors: Alzheimer Acute Care Unit, Gérontopôle Toulouse, Department of Geriatric Medicine University Hospital, France.
authors: Maria
authors: M
authors: Soto
authors: Manchester University, UK.
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Sutcliffe
authors: School of Health Sciences at Fundació Tecnocampus Mataró-Maresme Tecnocampus, Spain.
authors: Esther
authors: E
authors: Cabrera
mesh_terms: D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011787:Quality of Health Care
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Dementia; Home-care; Patient care