Internet interventions for informal dementia caregivers may improve caregiver well-being. However, the available supporting evidence lacks methodological quality. More randomized controlled studies assessing interventions performed according to protocol are needed to give stronger statements about the effects of supportive Internet interventions and their most promising elements.

Psychosocial intervention makes a vital contribution to dementia care. However, the lack of consensus about which outcome measures to use to evaluate effectiveness prevents meaningful comparisons between different studies and interventions. This study used an iterative collaborative, evidence-based approach to identify the best of currently available outcome measures for European psychosocial intervention research. This included consensus workshops, a web-based pan-European consultation and a systematic literature review and a rigorous evaluation against agreed criteria looking at utility across Europe, feasibility and psychometric properties. For people with dementia the measures covered the domains of quality of life, mood, global function, behaviour and daily living skills. Family carer domains included mood and burden, which incorporated coping with behaviour and quality of life. The only specific staff domain identified was morale, but this included satisfaction and coping with behaviour. In conclusion twenty-two measures across nine domains were recommended in order to improve the comparability of intervention studies in Europe. Areas were identified where improved outcome measures for psychosocial intervention research studies are required.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia are a common and major problem. Different symptoms have their own specific course, most of the time show a intermittent course, but behavioural problems overall are chronically present. The data have implications for developing treatment strategies.

There is a need to raise special awareness of YOD to facilitate a timely diagnosis.

The aim of this study was to detect behavioral subsyndromes of the 12-item Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). Cross-sectional data of 199 patients with dementia living in the community were collected. Principal component analysis (with Varimax rotation) was used for factor analysis. Results showed the presence of three behavioral subsyndromes: mood/apathy, psychosis, and hyperactivity. Anxiety was regarded as a separate symptom. The subsyndrome mood/apathy was the most common, occurring in almost 80% of the patients, versus psychosis and hyperactivity, which occurred in 37 and 60% of the patients, respectively.

Background: Behavioural changes are a key factor in distinguishing frontotemporal dementia (FTD) from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), however, little is known about the impact of these changes on caregivers. The aim of this study was to compare caregivers’ distress related to behavioural symptoms of AD and FTD. Methods: 47 spouse caregivers of consecutively referred patients with AD and 27 spouse caregivers of patients with FTD participated in this study. Behavioural disturbances in the patient and caregivers’ emotional reactions were measured with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Results: Patients with FTD had significantly higher levels of agitation, apathy, disinhibition and aberrant motor behaviour than did patients with AD. High distress scores were found for disinhibition, depression and apathy in caregivers of FTD patients whereas caregivers of AD patients reported patient apathy, depression and anxiety as being severely distressing. Higher mean distress scores were found for disinhibition in the FTD group. Furthermore, caregivers of FTD patients reported higher levels of general burden, and felt less competent than AD caregivers. Conclusions: Caregivers of FTD patients were overall more distressed by the behaviour of their partners than were the caregivers of AD patients.Findings from this study underscore the importance of differentiating between diagnostic groups and specific behavioural domains when focusing on caregiver reactions to problem behaviour.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the second most prevalent dementia after Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We compared 29 FTD and 90 AD caregivers with respect to burden, health-related quality of life (HQoL) and coping. FTD caregivers were more burdened than AD caregivers, and caregivers of patients who were demented for shorter duration had lower HQoL. We furthermore compared the 29 FTD caregivers with 34 caregivers of institutionalized FTD patients to understand their specific caregiver issues. Caregivers of FTD patients institutionalized after shorter dementia duration were most burdened and affected in their HQoL. Overall, passive coping strategies were associated with increased burden and decreased HQoL. We recommend that FTD caregivers be offered more support than AD caregivers. Furthermore, we suggest that interventions target passive coping strategies.

Caregiver management strategies would appear to be associated with behavioural problems in dementia, and are important in predicting patient behaviour and caregiver burden. Intervention programmes should aim at teaching caregivers adequate management strategies.