NCT07347639

SOCAV: a Nurse-led Support Programme for Self-direction in People With Dementia

SOCAV: a Nurse-led Support Programme for Self-direction in People With Dementia in Dutch Home Care, Involving Informal Caregivers - a Feasibility Study With Process Evaluation

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 85 (actual)
• Sponsor: Radboud University Medical Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

In this study, we tested whether a support program could help people living at home with dementia keep making their own everyday choices for as long as possible, with help from a family caregiver and a home-care nurse. Nurses received training and coaching to better focus on what the person still wants and can do, and to avoid taking over tasks too quickly. The program also included home conversations with the person with dementia and their caregiver to agree on what matters most and how to support that in daily life. In total, 12 people with dementia, 14 caregivers, and 33 nurses took part. Most participants felt the program was helpful and said it increased attention to personal choice and small day-to-day decisions. However, it also took time and was sometimes hard to schedule, and some people dropped out. The questionnaires did not show clear improvements in things like quality of life, but there were signs that some behavior problems (such as restlessness or difficult situations) became less frequent for some participants.

Conditions

• Dementia
• Dementia Caregivers

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	SOCAV-Home Care (self-directed care support for home-dwelling people with dementia)	SOCAV-Home Care is distinct because it targets "self-direction" in everyday home-care situations by combining (1) structured nurse training in person-centered communication (based on Community Occupational Therapy in Dementia principles), (2) longitudinal Kalorama reflective coaching with reflective diaries to change routine nursing behavior over months, and (3) repeated triadic home sessions (person with dementia + informal caregiver + nurse, sometimes with a peer coach) focused on mapping preferences, setting shared goals, and testing practical autonomy-supporting strategies in the home context. It is implemented by trained peer coaches within home-care teams rather than as a stand-alone therapy delivered only to patients.

Timeline

• Start date: 2020-08-30
• Primary completion: 2022-09-30
• Completion: 2022-10-30
• First posted: 2026-01-16
• Last updated: 2026-01-16

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Netherlands