Question: In older adults with moderate to severe dementia how effective is home care when compared with residential home care in terms of reducing risk, and improved patient outcomes?

Answer:

There is no direct evidence on the effectiveness of home care or community treatment for patients with moderate to severe dementia. There is some evidence, from one very small poor quality study, that admission of patients to residential care to specialist dementia care homes may improve short-term (three months) psychological outcomes for carers, without adverse effects on patients.

Larger, higher quality randomised controlled trials are required to confirm these findings and to assess the effectiveness of standardised home and community care interventions.