"Research has shown that a brief four or five-hour programme of support and counselling at diagnosis can reduce institutional care by an astonishing 28 per cent or an average of 557 days compared with those not receiving such interventions. This is particularly crucial considering that much of the cost associated with dementia results from expensive care home provision."
In actual fact the abstract of the research that the lobbyist is spinning is:
Mittleman, M.S., Haley, W. E., Clay, O.J., & Roth, D. L. (2006). Improving
Caregiver well-being delays nursing home placement of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. American Academy of Neurology 67, 1592-1599.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of counseling and support intervention for spouse caregivers in delaying time to nursing home placement of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and to identify the mechanisms through which the intervention accomplished this goal. A randomized controlled trail of counseling (6 sessions of individual and family) and support (support group, ad hoc telephone counseling available) was compared to treatment as usual for 406 spouse caregivers of community-dwelling patients with AD over a 9.5 year study period. Patients who spouses received the intervention experienced a 28.3 % reduction in the rate of nursing home placement compared with treatment as usual. Median time to placement was 557 days. Improvement in caregivers’ satisfaction with social support, response to patient behavior problems, and symptoms of depression collectively accounted for 61.2 % of the intervention’s beneficial impact on placement. The authors concluded greater access to effective programs of counseling and support could yield considerable benefits for caregivers, patients with AD and society.
Caregiver well-being delays nursing home placement of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. American Academy of Neurology 67, 1592-1599.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of counseling and support intervention for spouse caregivers in delaying time to nursing home placement of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and to identify the mechanisms through which the intervention accomplished this goal. A randomized controlled trail of counseling (6 sessions of individual and family) and support (support group, ad hoc telephone counseling available) was compared to treatment as usual for 406 spouse caregivers of community-dwelling patients with AD over a 9.5 year study period. Patients who spouses received the intervention experienced a 28.3 % reduction in the rate of nursing home placement compared with treatment as usual. Median time to placement was 557 days. Improvement in caregivers’ satisfaction with social support, response to patient behavior problems, and symptoms of depression collectively accounted for 61.2 % of the intervention’s beneficial impact on placement. The authors concluded greater access to effective programs of counseling and support could yield considerable benefits for caregivers, patients with AD and society.
Even from quickly skimming the abstract one can see that this is not a study about just early diagnosis and a brief support programme, it is a long study over almost ten years in which carers were given a lot more counselling and support than they would otherwise have been given.
This quick case study is the perfect example of the way in which the modern media and lobby industry operates. Scientific evidence is spun by non-scientists and manipulated into saying things for which there is simply no evidence. It makes headlines for the government to launch its gimmicky new early diagnosis centres for a relatively small amount of money but they are the equivalent of pissing in the wind; as if there is not a substantial investment in carers, care homes, support systems for carers and other facilities then the point will have been completely missed and the urine will continue to fly into the carers' faces.
This quick case study is the perfect example of the way in which the modern media and lobby industry operates. Scientific evidence is spun by non-scientists and manipulated into saying things for which there is simply no evidence. It makes headlines for the government to launch its gimmicky new early diagnosis centres for a relatively small amount of money but they are the equivalent of pissing in the wind; as if there is not a substantial investment in carers, care homes, support systems for carers and other facilities then the point will have been completely missed and the urine will continue to fly into the carers' faces.
