Preferences for Living Arrangements in Dementia: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Dementia affects about 55 million people worldwide. Demographic change and shifting lifestyles challenge the organization of dementia care. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted to elicit preferences for living arrangements in dementia in urban and rural regions of Germany.

Preliminary work included review of previous literature and focus groups. The DCE consists of seven attributes (group size, staff qualifications, organization of care, activities offered, support of religious practice, access to garden, consideration of food preferences) with three levels each. Individuals from the general population between the ages of 50 and 65 years were identified through population registration offices in three rural municipalities and one urban area, and 4390 individuals were approached via postal survey. A hierarchical Bayesian mixed logit model was estimated and interactions with sociodemographic characteristics were investigated.

A total of 428 and 412 questionnaires were returned by rural and urban respondents, respectively. Access to a garden was perceived as the most important attribute (average importance 36.0% in the rural sample and 33.4% in the urban sample), followed by consideration of food preferences (15.8%, 17.8%), staff qualification (14.6%, 15.3%), care organization (11.4%, 12.3%), group size (12.2%, 11.1%), and range of activities (8.0%, 10.1%). The attribute relating to religious practice was given the least importance (2.1%, 0%). Preferences vary according to gender, age, religious beliefs, experience as an informal caregiver, and migrant background.

Heterogeneous preferences for living arrangements for people with dementia were identified. The expansion of concepts with access to natural environments for persons with dementia might be a viable option for the formal care market in Germany. Further research is needed to meet the challenges of setting up and designing innovative living arrangements for people with dementia. Preferences vary by gender, age, religious beliefs, experience as an informal caregiver, and migrant background.