Focus group study finds that dementia educational materials should be clear and direct

Insights into Designing Educational Materials for Persons Living with Dementia: A Focus Group Study

April 29, 2024

IMPACT Pilot Grant Awardee, Donovan Maust, MD, MS, is among authors that describe a series of focus groups of people living with dementia (PLWD) and their care partners to learn about ways to optimize  the design of PLWD-facing education and deprescribing intervention materials. Researchers found a strong preference for materials that address PLWD directly, using plain, non-threatening and accessible language with clean, straightforward formatting.

Background

Persons living with dementia (PLWD) may experience communication difficulties that impact their ability to process written and pictorial information. Patient-facing education may help promote discontinuation of potentially inappropriate medications for older adults without dementia, but it is unclear how to adapt this approach for PLWD. Our objective was to solicit feedback from PLWD and their care partners to gain insights into the design of PLWD-facing deprescribing intervention materials and PLWD-facing education material more broadly.

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