[Caregiver intervention studies : Recommendations on endpoints and outcome measures for cognitively impaired care...

Even though the intervention effects on cognitively impaired care recipients are of interest, the evaluation in dementia caregiver studies on caregiver outcomes is often limited. Furthermore, the comparison of studies and interventions is difficult because of the large variance of endpoints and assessments used in this field.

The aim of this study was to give an overview on the most prevalent outcomes for cognitively impaired care recipients and expert based recommendations for assessment.

A written Delphi survey was carried out on 16 assessments from 5 dimensions with 14 experts working in different disciplines in German healthcare and research institutes.

The most important outcomes and best rated assessments were 1) for problem behavior: revised memory and behavior problem checklist and neuropsychiatric inventory Q, 2) for depressive symptoms: geriatric depression scale, 3) for quality of life: quality of life in Alzheimer's disease, 4) for cognition: mini mental state examination and 5) for ADL/IADL: Katz activities of daily living and Lawton instrumental activities of daily living.

Due to the varying experiences of the experts with particular assessments, the ratings were in some cases relatively heterogeneous. Overall previous international recommendations could be confirmed. There is particular need of German validation studies on internationally used instruments within the dimensions of problem behavior and quality of life.