Supporting dementia patients and their caregivers in daily life challenges: review of physical, cognitive and psychosocial intervention studies.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Dementia is associated with multiple daily life challenges that have a major impact for health outcome, affecting both the patients and their caregivers. In this review, the efficacy of physical, cognitive and psychosocial interventions in the treatment of dementia patients is evaluated, and how caregiver education and support may contribute to patient care is analysed.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Due to the complex nature of cognitive and psychosocial interventions, their efficacy depends strongly on local settings. Thus, active components of these interventions are not always obvious, even in controlled randomized trials. Successful patient management includes (i) the safekeeping of basic support, (ii) the provision of a stable external milieu that is adjusted to the patients' cognitive resources and (iii) the provision of multimodal therapeutic concepts that are closely adapted to the practical needs of the patients and caregivers.