Dementia Care Mapping and Patient-Centred Care in Australian residential homes: An economic evaluation of the CARE Study, CHERE Working Paper 2008/4

considered in the evaluation of these interventions. We do not know what the long-
term implications are for staff working under some level of continuous distress caused
by coping with the effects of BPSD on care-recipients/residents as well as themselves.
BPSD is also likely to result in an intangible effect on the quality of life of members
of the affected person’s family who observe on a regular basis the distress of their
loved one with unremitting BPSD [17]. Finally, as with all trials, replication in other
settings would assist in determining how robust these results are.

We conclude that PCC appears to be a cost-effective method of reducing agitation and
other behavioural disturbances in nursing home residents with dementia. Results such
as those reported here, which establish the most cost-effective interventions from
those available are useful for practitioners and service managers, enabling them to
choose the best models of care for persons with dementia in different care settings..

In order to improve both resident and care staff quality of life, future research needs to
take into account the cost of care associated with staff burden, as carer stress is linked
to the well-being of the person with dementia [4, 17, 18].

References

[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics. 3222.0 - population projections, Australia,
2004 to 2101 2005.

[2] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Dementia in Australia: National
data analysis and development (AIHW cat. No. Age53). Canberra, 2007.

[3] Brodaty H, Draper B, Saab D, Low LF, Richards V, Paton H, Lie D.
Psychosis, depression and behavioural disturbances in sydney nursing home residents:
Prevalence and predictors. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2001;16:504-12.

[4] Nay R, Koch S. Overcoming restraint use: Examining barriers in australian
aged care facilities. J Gerontol Nurs 2006;32:33-8.

[5] Access Economics Pty Ltd. Dementia in the asia pacific region: The epidemic
is here (asia pacific members of alzheimer's disease international). 2006.

[6] Ayalon L, Gum AM, Feliciano L, Arean PA. Effectiveness of
nonpharmacological interventions for the management of neuropsychiatric symptoms
in patients with dementia: A systematic review. Arch Intern Med 2006;166:2182-8.

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