Dementia Care Outcome Measures

NPI, BEHAVE-AD, and CMAI are considered gold standards for assessing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. QUALIDEM was identified as the best quality-of-life scale for people living with dementia in nursing homes. Pain measurement in dementia is difficult because cognitive and communication impairment can make self-report unreliable. Validated or recommended measures were found for several dementia care domains, including pain, quality of life, emotional well-being, cognitive screening, behavioral symptoms, meaningful activities, comfort, and resource utilization. Questionnaires cannot accurately diagnose dementia on their own but can screen for cognitive change. RUD and RUD-Lite were identified for measuring resource utilization among people living with dementia.