Home/community-based interventions to improve function in persons with mild cognitive impairment/early dementia

•Interventions impacting function in persons with mild cognitive impairment/early dementia incorporated a visual/written element, technology-based training, caregiver support, and modified duration/increased frequency of interventions.•Adapting interventions for cognition issues may benefit from incorporating functional tasks to simulate IADLs and a combination of cognitive/physical strategies.•Address cognitive function using both objective and subjective cognitive measures.•Gaps in the literature in incorporating race/ethnicity and appropriate socioeconomic status measures. Persons with mild cognitive impairment/early dementia have a possible 20-year trajectory of disability and dependence with little information on the effectiveness of interventions to improve function. This review investigates the literature of home/community-based interventions for physical and executive function in persons with mild cognitive impairment/early dementia. A 2007–2020 systematic literature search was conducted through PubMed, CINAHL Plus with Full Text and PsycINFO. Of the 1749 articles retrieved, 18 eligible studies were identified and consisted of three types of interventions: cognitive training-only (n = 7), multicomponent (n = 9), and physical activity-only (n = 2). Results showed that the interventions impacting function in persons with cognitive impairment incorporated a visual/written element, technology-based training, caregiver support, and modified duration/increased frequency of interventions. In studies improving function, participants simulated Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. They addressed cognitive function using both objective and subjective cognitive measures. We found gaps in the literature in incorporating race/ethnicity and appropriate socioeconomic status measures.