Development of a Protocol for the Assessment of Assistive Aids for People with Dementia

Assistive aids can support some people with dementia in their daily life. Examples are devices designed to facilitate time orientation, use the telephone, and cooker monitors that switch the gas off in case of over-heating. However, there is a dearth of knowledge about the feasibility of using different assistive aids and how to assess the usefulness of such products to the patient and the carer, as well as their costs and benefits for society. This article describes the development of a protocol for a multinational assessment study of different assistive aids to be used by people with dementia living in their own home. Experiences of using the protocol are also reported in this article. This work is part of the ENABLE project.