>> Special care management improves the living and care situation of people with dementia who live at home. Compared to patients who receive conventional care, they are better treated with medication. They are also less affected by depression or other neuropsychiatric symptoms. At the same time, the burden on the caring relatives is relieved. In addition, care management improves the quality of life for those patients who live with relatives. These are the results of a study by the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), in which the situation of over 600 people with dementia in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has been examined since 2012. Some of this was supported by individual care management for up to a year. The study took place in close collaboration with more than 130 general practitioners' practices.
The focus was on testing a care concept that is unique in Germany - “Dementia Care Management”: Family doctors from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania initially examined the memory performance of patients aged 70 and over. If there was evidence of dementia during this examination, the patients were able to take part in the study. Specially trained study nurses visited participants at home and systematically recorded their situation and needs. On this basis, a plan to improve care was drawn up and implemented in close coordination with the treating family doctor. The study nurses provided advice to the study participants and relatives for up to a year. A comparison group did not receive this help. After one year, all study participants were examined again and their living and care situation was recorded again. The results of the “DelpHi-MV” study are groundbreaking: They show new approaches to how people with dementia and their relatives can be supported.
“Dementia is a disease that affects the entire family. “It fundamentally changes not only the living environment of the sick person, but also the lives of their relatives,” explained Federal Minister for Family Affairs Manuela Schwesig: A central approach to improving the situation is therefore the continuous support and relief of caring relatives. “This is where we start nationally with the Alliance for People with Dementia and regionally with the local alliances,” she continued at the presentation of the study in Greifswald. Dementia Care Management is a concept that takes the entire, individual situation of the person affected into account, and the DelpHi-MV study has now shown its effectiveness. Schwesig: “We now have to work together to ensure that those affected and their families can also benefit from it outside of studies. Science can and should make an important contribution to this.”
That's exactly what Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hoffmann, head of the DelpHi-MV study and spokesman for the DZNE Rostock/Greifswald location, has already done so. “We have shown with high scientific quality that dementia care management significantly improves the care of people with dementia and their relatives in important areas,” he explained. Now it is a matter of bringing this concept into care as quickly as possible, together with the payers and health policy providers, so that those affected benefit from it throughout Germany. <<