Study title

Two Meeting Centres were established in the UK, one in Droitwich Spa and one in Leominster, and the aim was to recruit 25 people with dementia/carer dyads per Meeting Centre for both the MC and UC groups. A variety of data collection activities were carried out, including: (1) Questionnaires with people with dementia and carers (DQOL, QOLAD, NPI, Cornell, GHQ CCRI); (2) Satisfaction surveys with people with dementia and carers; (3) Focus groups with people with dementia and carers ; (4) Interviews with members of the Meeting Centre Initiative Groups. MEETINGDEM aimed to implement and validate the successful, inclusive Dutch Meeting Centres Support Programme (MCSP) for community dwelling people with mild to moderately severe dementia and their family carers in three EU countries (Italy, Poland, UK). MCSP provides a social club for persons with dementia, information meetings and discussion groups for carers, and individual consultations and plenary centre meetings for both. After exploring pathways to care, the three countries established initiative groups of organizational collaborators and user representatives; inventoried facilitators/barriers to implementing MCSP; and developed implementation plans, practical guides and toolkits, utilizing and adapting Dutch materials. Staff were trained and 9 Meeting Centres (MC) established (Italy-5, Poland-2, UK-2) and later another 6 MC (Italy-4, Poland-2). The first 9 MC participated in the study into MCSP’s impact on people with dementia (behaviour, mood, quality of life/ QoL) and carers (sense of competence, mental health, loneliness, distress, experienced burden), its cost-effectiveness and user satisfaction. Implementation evaluation: Overall MCSP components and vision were maintained in all countries/centres. Country specific requirements resulted in variations in inclusion criteria, frequency of programme components, culture specific activities. Factors facilitating implementation were: added value of MCSP and...