Effects of different advance care planning approaches in dementia

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: Pending

Sex: Not specified

Target Recruitment: 279

Inclusion Criteria

We aim to include 45 general practitioners from different practices. Each general practitioner is invited to bring a practice nurse to receive the training and participate in delivering the intervention. The targeted total sample size is 279 persons with dementia and their family caregivers.

Inclusion criteria for GPs:
•GPs who are willing to contact persons with dementia and their family caregivers from their practice in the Netherlands for study participation and who are willing to complete training and study requirements to conduct ACP conversations with persons with dementia and their family caregivers if randomized to an intervention group.

Inclusion criteria for persons with dementia:
•diagnosis of irreversible dementia established by a physician;
•decisional capacity and the person can be interviewed (adequate memory, speech and language, and ability to make decisions);
•living at home;
•sufficient capacity of the Dutch language;
•adequate vision and hearing (can be achieved by using corrective lenses or hearing aid);
•the family caregiver is also willing to participate in the study.

Inclusion criteria for family caregivers of persons with dementia:
•at least 18 years old;
•sufficient capacity of the Dutch language;
•decisional capacity;
•adequate vision and hearing (can be achieved by using corrective lenses or hearing aid);
•the person with dementia is also willing to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria

Exclusion criteria for GPs:
•GPs with no persons with dementia in their practice;
•GPs who plan to resign within one year.

Exclusion criteria for persons with dementia:
•currently affected by a severe psychiatric disorder (e.g., major depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse, PTSD) as diagnosed by a psychiatrist, psychologist, or physician;
•a life expectancy of less than four weeks;
•severe aphasia or another language disorder.

Exclusion criteria for family caregivers of persons with dementia:
•currently affected by a severe psychiatric disorder (e.g. major depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse, PTSD) as diagnosed by a psychiatrist, psychologist, or physician, if known to the GP of the person with dementia;
•a life expectancy of less than four weeks if known to the GP of the person with dementia;
•severe aphasia or another language disorder if known to the GP of the person with dementia.

Study & Design

Study Type: Interventional

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The primary outcome is wellbeing of persons with dementia measured by the Quality of Life in Late-Stage Dementia scale (QUALID) with observable indicators of wellbeing.

Secondary Outcome Measures