There are evidence-based strategies for care homes. Future interventions should focus on consistent and long-term implementation through staff training. Further research is needed for people living in their own homes.

This paper proposes that stigma in relation to people with mental illness can be understood as a combination of problems of knowledge (ignorance), attitudes (prejudice) and behaviour (discrimination). From a literature review, a series of candidate interventions are identified which may be effective in reducing stigmatisation and discrimination at the following levels: individuals with mental illness and their family members; the workplace; and local, national and international. The strongest evidence for effective interventions at present is for (i) direct social contact with people with mental illness at the individual level, and (ii) social marketing at the population level.

No abstract

The proportion of participants experiencing no discrimination increased significantly over the course of TTC but by less than the initial target. The overall median discrimination score fell by 11.5%. Data from 2010 and 2011 suggest that these gains may be hard to maintain during economic austerity.

This small non-randomized study is the first end-of-life care in dementia intervention to report an increase in family satisfaction with a reduction in hospital deaths. This is promising but requires further evaluation in diverse care homes.

The staff require education and support about discussing and implementing plans around care at the end of life in dementia and about cultural issues around death to improve practice. This would enable the staff to implement advance care plans, knowing that they will be supported. Education would encompass communicating the complicated, unpredictable path of dementia near the time of death explicitly but sensitively, including recognising that people often do not hear difficult messages and are unable to take on large quantities of information at once. The staff need to know about the resident's religious and cultural ideas as well as ritual practice.

BackgroundTwo-thirds of people with dementia live at home, receiving most care from family carers, about 40% of whom have clinically significant depression or anxiety. This impacts on the person with dementia, families and society, predicting care breakdown. There are currently no clinically effective and cost-effective NHS family carer interventions.ObjectivesTo assess the STrAtegies for RelaTives (START) intervention in the short (4 and 8 months) and long term (1 and 2 years) compared with treatment as usual (TAU).DesignRandomised, parallel-group, superiority trial with blinded assessment recruiting participants 2 : 1 (intervention to TAU) to allow for therapist clustering.SettingThree UK mental health services and one neurological service.ParticipantsFamily carers of people with dementia.InterventionEight-session manual-based coping intervention delivered by supervised psychology graduates to individuals.Main outcome measuresAffective symptoms [Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-total (HADS-T)] and cost-effectiveness. Secondary measures: anxiety and depression symptoms and caseness, quality of life (QoL), abusive behaviour and long-term care home admission.ResultsTwo hundred and sixty participants were randomised (173 intervention, 87 TAU). We used intention-to-treat analysis in the short term (152 intervention, 77 TAU) and in the long term (140 intervention, 69 TAU).In the short term, the intervention group had lower HADS-T [mean difference –1.80, 95% confidence interval (CI) –3.29 to –0.31;p = 0.02] and higher quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) (mean difference 0.03, 95% CI –0.01 to 0.08). Costs were no different between groups [mean £252 (95% CI –£28 to £565) for intervention group]. The cost-effectiveness acceptability curve showed a greater than 99% chance of being cost-effectiveness at a £30,000/QALY willingness-to-pay threshold and a high probability of cost-effectiveness based on the HADS-T score. Carers in the intervention group had less case-level depression [odds ratio (OR) 0.24, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.76], a trend towards reduced case-level anxiety (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.08 to 1.05), lower Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-anxiety (HADS-A) (–0.91, 95% CI –1.76 to –0.07;p = 0.03) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-depression (HADS-D) (–0.91, 95% CI –1.71 to –0.10;p = 0.03) and higher Health Status Questionnaire (HSQ) QoL (mean difference 4.09, 95% CI 0.34 to 7.83). Group differences in abusive behaviour (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.18 to 1.27) and the person with dementia’s quality of life-Alzheimer’s disease (QoL-AD) (mean increase 0.59, 95% CI –0.72 to 1.89) were not significant.In the long term, the intervention group had lower HADS-T (mean difference –2.58, 95% CI –4.26 to –0.90;p = 0.03) and higher QALYs (mean difference 0.03, 95% CI –0.01 to 0.06). Carers in the intervention group had less case-level depression (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.53), a trend towards reduced case-level anxiety (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.26 to 1.24), lower HADS-A (–1.16, 95% CI –2.15 to –0.18) and HADS-D (1.45, 95% CI –2.32 to –0.57), and higher HSQ (mean difference 7.47, 95% CI 2.87 to 12.08). Thirty-two (18.7%) people with dementia in the intervention group and 17 (20.2%) in TAU were admitted to a care home (hazard ratio 0.83, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.56;p = 0.56). There were no significant differences between groups in abusive behaviour (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.36 to 1.94), the person with dementia’s QoL-AD (0.17, 95% CI –1.37 to 1.70) or costs (£336, 95% CI –£223 to £895) for intervention group. The probability that the intervention would be seen as cost-effective at £30,000/QALY threshold and cost-effectiveness on the HADS-T remained high.ConclusionsThe START intervention was clinically effective and cost-effective in the short and longer term. The results are robust to the sensitivity analyses performed. Future work is needed to consider mechanism of action; the effects on people with dementia in clinical terms (cognition, neuropsychiatric symptoms, longer-term care home admission); and on health and social care costs. In addition, we will explore the effects of carer abusive behaviour on the care recipient’s care home admission and if this then reduces abusive behaviour. We would also like to implement START and evaluate this implementation in clinical practice.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISCTRN70017938.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme.

Results suggest positive progress toward meeting the program's targeted 5% reduction in discrimination.