There is a pressing need for more research into the Government's recommended method of alternative treatment for dementia, according to a new joint study by the Universities of Hull and Maastricht.

Their study, ‘Function analysis-based interventions for challenging behaviour in dementia’, focuses on functional – or behavioural – analysis, the approach to dementia care recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for carers dealing with 'challenging behaviour’.

The study shows that functional analysis is a promising alternative approach to antipsychotic and other drug therapies but its true value is difficult to evaluate since most studies have applied the approach as part of a broad-based programme of a range of other supportive interventions. 

Lead researcher, Professor Esme Moniz Cook, explained: "Functional analysis is a systematic approach but people with dementia can show their distress or discomfort in many different ways.

"If unsystematic methods are used it is then hard to establish what, if anything, has helped in the care situation. This may be why practitioners often readily resort to psychotropic drug therapies before persisting with potential distress-alleviating therapies that could help the person and the carer. 

She called for large-scale clinical trials to further investigate the functional approach, pointing to the Challenge DemCare project that she is heading up in association with the National Institute for Health Research.

Training and e-tool systems are currently being used to test functional analysis-based interventions with more than 1,000 service users across Yorkshire with results expected from these studies in 12 months’ time.

For more information visit www.hull.ac.uk
Reference: Moniz Cook ED, Swift K, James I, Malouf R, De Vugt M, Verhey F (2012) Functional analysis-based interventions for challenging behaviour in dementia.  Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Posted 18/02/2012 by richard.hook@pavpub.com