Personalized Care Plus Social Interaction Benefits People with Dementia

A study published in PLOS Medicine found boosting social interaction for nursing community residents with dementia by as little as one hour a week improved their quality of life, agitation, and neuropsychiatric symptoms in conjunction with a person-centered care intervention, reports Healio . "To date, interventions to promote person-centered care have not achieved a significant improvement in quality of life for people with dementia," says Exeter University's Clive Ballard. "The exception is a recently published intensive proof-of-concept study that confirmed the added benefits of combining person-centered care training for care staff, antipsychotic review, and social interaction — the WHELD intervention — and demonstrated significant benefits in quality of life, as well as a significant reduction in antipsychotic use." The randomized controlled cluster trial conducted between Jan. 1, 2013, and Sept. 30, 2015, compared the WHELD intervention with conventional treatment in people with dementia living in 69 U.K. nursing communities. Generally, 553 people completed the trial, and subjects who received the WHELD intervention exhibited statistically significant improvements in quality of life versus typical treatment over nine months. There also were significant benefits in agitation and overall neuropsychiatric symptoms, with participants with moderately severe dementia enjoying the most benefits. Also noted was significant benefit in positive care interactions among people receiving WHELD compared to typical treatment, although no statistically significant differences were observed for the other outcomes.