Objective: Policies outlining appropriate residential care for older people emphasizes that care packages provide for each resident's individual needs. People with dementia have the same type of needs as other elderly individuals, however these often coexist with complex mental health problems. The aims of this study were to measure and meet the unmet needs of people with dementia in residential care.
Design: Approximately 80 participants were assessed from London, Manchester, and Wales, 10 residents living in 8 homes. Each of these homes were randomly placed into a 20 week intervention program (50%) or into a control group (50%).
Materials and Methods: Information was gathered about the person's met and unmet needs using the CANE as well as their level of disability, challenging behaviors, cognitive functioning, use of local services, caregiver stress, and quality of life.
Results: In the feedback and intervention group we expect to show a reduction in the number of unmet needs compared to no change in the control group. In the intervention group we expect to show that the meeting of individual needs will be related to quality of life and will not be related to changes in cost of services or level of disability.
Conclusion: We hope to show that the assessment of needs on an individual basis is vital for the provision of effective and holistic healthcare. In addition, needs - based treatment and intervention for people with dementia in residential care homes will increase their quality of life.
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