Adaptive Implementation and Validation of the positively evaluated Meeting Centers Support Programme for people with dementia and their carers in Europe.

BACKGROUND:

In the past fifteen years the Meeting Centres for people with dementia and their carers have proven successful in the Netherlands. Demonstrated benefits include e.g. high levels of user satisfaction, reduced behavioural and mood problems, delayed admission to residential care, lower levels of caregiving-related stress and higher carer competence.
The MCSP has been implemented in 90 meeting centers in the Netherlands, and it now well-placed to be trialled and implemented in other EU countries.



STUDY AIM:

MEETINGDEM aims to implement and evaluate the Meeting Centres Support Programme in three EU countries: Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom.



Project partners in the three countries will utilize strategies and tools developed in the Netherlands and adapt them to country-specific requirements, establish a group of appropriate organizational collaborators in each country, develop an implementation plan and toolkit, implement MCSP and evaluate the programme in a controlled trial in terms of its impact on the behavior, mood and quality of life of people with dementia and carers, investigate facilitators and barriers of the implementation, and evaluate it’s cost-effectiveness.



METHOD:

Phase one of the project involves the exploration and preparation of the implementation. This phase comprises 1) the exploration, mapping and recruitment of organizations for an initiative group in the participating countries, 2) the inventory and analysis of conditions for successful implementation of MCSP in participating countries and 3) the preparation of country specific implementation plans with strategies and materials.



Phase 2 of the project involves the implementation and evaluation. This phase comprises 1) the actual implementation of the MCSP in at least one meeting centre in each of the participating countries and 2) the evaluation of the implementation including the (cost-) effectiveness on behavior, mood and quality of life of people with dementia, sense of competence of carers and care costs; user satisfaction and the investigation of experienced facilitators and barriers of the implementation.

There will be a surplus value of the Meeting Centers Support Programme (MCSP) compared to regular psychogeriatric day treatment for people with dementia and their informal caregivers on micro, meso and macro level.



At micro level, it is expected that people with dementia that attend the MCSP experience less behavioral problems and depression, have a better quality of life, and more self-esteem than users of regular day treatment (control group). Informal carers that attend the MCSP are expected to have more sense of competence compared to informal caregivers who do not attend the MCSP.



At meso level, we expect better cooperation between care and welfare organizations in the community.



At macro level, we expect that the MCSP will be cost-effective compared to regular psychogeriatric day treatment.

Baseline, seven months.

This project focuses on further dissemination, implementation and evaluation of the Meeting Centers Support Programme, which was evaluated positively and successfully disseminated in the Netherlands, in other European countries, i.e. Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom.



The Meeting Centers Support Programme (MCSP) offers an integrated package of care and support. The MCSP offers a support programme for community-dwelling people with dementia and their informal carers. This support programme is organized in tight cooperation with other care and welfare organizations. The programme consists of person-centred care based on the needs of the individual with dementia. The person with dementia participates in several activities such as domestic activities, creative and recreational activities and psychomotor therapy sessions. Support strategies for caregivers vary from giving information during informative meetings and practical help by, for example, offering case management, to offering emotional support through discussion groups. Finally, some activities are organized for the carer and the person with dementia together, such as the monthly centre meeting to adapt the programme to the needs of the participating group at that time, and recreational activities.