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Dementia Early-Stage Cognitive Aids New Trial (DESCANT) of memory aids and guidance for people with dementia: randomised controlled trial
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  • Published on:
    Personal goal attainment: a different approach to evaluating outcomes
    • Linda Clare, Professor of Clinical Psychology of Ageing and Dementia University of Exeter Medical School

    The authors say their intervention did not improve independence in activities of daily living for people with dementia as measured by the BADLS. In this context they do not mention their work showing that participants improved in functional ability on their chosen personal goals.[1] Using data from 7 of 10 trial sites and devising a goal attainment scaling method to evaluate 266 goals set by 111 participating dyads, results ‘strongly suggested’ that participants improved on their individual goals.

    This fits with the emerging pattern of findings from personalised rehabilitative interventions that aim to support functioning and self-management in the early stages of dementia. Positive outcomes in personal goal attainment have been demonstrated in several large trials which are not mentioned in the discussion of this paper, for example GREAT[2] and REDALI-DEM.[3] However, none of the large trials of cognitive rehabilitation or related approaches has reported improvements on general measures of functional ability or other secondary outcomes, although some significant effects have been seen in smaller trials.[4,5]

    The DESCANT intervention may have had several limitations, including short duration, limited number of sessions, manualised delivery by practitioners who are not qualified health professionals, and limited scope in the choice of goals, aids, and strategies. The focus of the intervention is unlikely to have influenced many domains covered by the BADLS (e...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.