Non-pharmacological interventions for persons with dementia: what are they and how should they be studied?

The publication of four papers concerning non-pharmacological interventions for persons with dementia heralds progress in the science of dementia care. The four papers are very diverse in focus and methodology, and include a study of the impact of a visual arts program on quality of life, communication, and well-being by Windle et al. (2017); an overview of systematic reviews of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia by Dyer et al. (2017); a systematic review of the efficacy of intervention in people with Lewy body dementia by Morrin et al. (2017); and a protocol of the Behavior and Evolution of Young Onset Dementia part two (BEYOND-II) study, an intervention study aimed at improvement in the management of neuropsychiatric symptoms in institutionalized people with young onset dementia by van Duinen-van den IJssel et al. (2017).