Individual Cognitive Stimulation Therapy for dementia (iCST): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• Improving dementia care quality is a national priority.
• Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) groups benefit cognition and quality of life for dementia patients.
• Many individuals with dementia cannot access existing psychological interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a home-based, individual Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (iCST) program.
• To assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of iCST delivered by family carers.
• To enhance accessibility of psychological therapies for people with dementia.

Main Methods:

• A multi-centre, pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing iCST with treatment as usual.
• iCST involves 30-minute sessions, 3 times weekly for 25 weeks, delivered by a family carer.
• Primary outcomes include cognition (ADAS-Cog) and quality of life (QoL-AD) for patients, and carer quality of life (SF-12).

Main Results:

• The study is powered to detect an effect size of 0.35 for cognition and quality of life.
• Cost-effectiveness analysis will be conducted from a public sector perspective.
• The trial will provide data on the effectiveness of iCST for dementia patients and their carers.

Conclusions:

• A home-based iCST program offers a practical solution for improving dementia care.
• This intervention aims to increase access to beneficial psychological therapies for those with dementia.
• The RCT will determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this novel approach.