Support
This joint package focuses on everyday support and high-quality care for people living with dementia, across all stages of the condition. It explores how care, support services and societal support can become more coordinated, secure and tailored to individual needs, with the aim of strengthening quality of life, independence and dignity for both people living with dementia and their relatives.
Within this joint package, knowledge and recommendations are developed on how care and support can become more person-centred, equitable and preventive. An important goal is to contribute to a more dementia-competent workforce, reduce stigma and strengthen evidence-based practices, with a particular focus on oral health, participation and early interventions.
Support throughout the disease trajectory
The research explores how support structures, care pathways, clinical practice and education can be developed to meet changing needs over time. Particular attention is paid to vulnerable groups and key phases such as early diagnosis, changing roles, transition to residential care, acute situations and end-of-life care. The work is based on a participatory and multi-method approach, including co-creation, inclusive communication and policy analysis. Existing studies and quality registers are used, such as the H70 studies, SveDem, SKaPa, Senior Alert and the BPSD Register.
Co-created solutions for care and support
Central research questions include how early identification, diagnostic communication and integrated dental care can be improved to support person-centred dementia care from the early stages. Other questions concern which systems and ways of working best support person-centred care in the early and middle phases of the disease, and how care planning, palliative care and preventive work related to falls and incontinence can be coordinated in later stages to increase quality of life and reduce avoidable hospital admissions.
The studies include both ordinary housing and residential care settings. Through DEMSAM’s Living Labs and Policy Labs, targeted interventions are co-created, such as creative and culturally adapted approaches, strategies to prevent care-related harm, and educational initiatives for health and social care. The aim is to strengthen autonomy and a sense of security, improve clinical outcomes, delay institutional care and reduce the need for emergency care.
Expected outcomes include culturally adapted approaches for early symptom recognition, guidelines that integrate health and dental care, and co-created solutions such as mobile clinics and digital tools. The support theme aims to contribute to sustainable and scalable models, as well as policy recommendations that strengthen collaboration between people living with dementia, their relatives, health and dental care services, and municipal services, with the overall goal of promoting healthy ageing.