LIVE@Home.Path
The LIVE@Home.Path trial focused on how to improve the caring situation for caregivers to people with dementia living at home. The overarching goal of the project was to develop knowledge about the needs of caregivers and people with dementia living at home and how鈥痶o improve the dementia pathway. The project is now completed, and the main paper on effect evaluation of the RCT is accepted for publication in Alzheimer鈥檚 & Dementia entitled 鈥淏urden and care time for dementia caregivers in the LIVE@Home.Path trial鈥.
About the research project
The LIVE@Home.Path trial is SEFAS's grand investment in municipal dementia services and home-dwelling persons with dementia and their caregivers. The project was led by Professor Bettina Huseb酶, financed by the Research Council of Norway, and was a collaboration with NORCE, the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital, the Dignity Centre, and the municipalities of Bergen, B忙rum, and Kristiansand. International scientific partners included Yale (U.S.), Harvard/McLean (U.S), Leiden University (the Netherlands), Tohoku University (Japan), King's College (U.K.), and Exeter University (U.K.)听
Methods
LIVE@Home.Path鈥痑pplied both qualitative and quantitative鈥痬ethods to explore how different components (ie, a鈥痬ulticomponent intervention) facilitated by a municipal鈥痗oordinator can improve resource utilization and鈥痗aregiver burden in dementia care. LIVE is an acronym鈥痜or the components of the intervention, consisting of L鈥痜or learning, I for innovation and ICT, V for volunteering,鈥痑nd E for empowerment, that is, planning of treatment鈥痑nd care in the last period of life. In the quantitative part鈥痮f the project, we explored how this multicomponent鈥痠ntervention can reduce the number of informal care hours and鈥痗aregiver burden, applying a stepped wedge randomized鈥痗ontrolled design, which implies that all participants鈥痚ventually will receive the intervention, while the timing of鈥痶he intervention is determined by randomization. In total,鈥痺e have followed 280 dyads of persons with dementia and鈥痶heir informal caregivers from 2019 in Bergen, B忙rum, and鈥疜ristiansand, and implemented the coordinator-facilitated鈥疞IVE intervention over 6 months. We have also performed鈥痲ualitative interviews with selected dyads and volunteer鈥痗oordinators throughout the trial. We found that the LIVE intervention did not improve resource utilization or caregiver burden for caregivers of home-dwelling persons with dementia; however, the caregivers reported a positive change over the intervention period, which was most pronounced for the allocation of a personal coordinator. 听
Impact
Our findings highlight that the personalization of dementia care is highly valued by the caregivers. This finding may support clinicians and stakeholders in designing future health care services for people with dementia and their caregivers, since the prevalence will more than double over the next 30 years, thereby also increasing the need to support their caregivers.听
Educational outcomes
- PhD student Stein Erik F忙酶 defended his thesis in 2021: 鈥淏eing Home with Dementia: Exploration of the Meaning of Home and Approaches to Care and Support鈥. 听
- PhD student Marie Hidle Gedde defended her thesis on the 16th of February 2023:鈥疊ehavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia.鈥疶he impact of medication reviews in multicomponent鈥痠nterventions and the consequences of COVID-19鈥痳estrictions. Gedde received the award for best PhD at the Faculty of Medicine in 2023. 听
- PhD student Maarja Vislapuu defended her thesis on the 19th of April 2024:鈥疘nformal and formal鈥痳esource utilization in people with dementia.
- Masterstudent Guro K氓r酶y Alm氓s defended her master's degree in Health Sciences in June 2024: Betydelig p氓r酶rendebelastning hos hjemmeboende personer med demens.
- PhD candidate Eirin Hillestad is researching volunteerism in dementia care by conducting interviews with volunteers, volunteer coordinators, individuals with dementia, and their relatives, as well as conducting participant observations.
Publications from the project
The main paper of the LIVE@Home.Path trial, "" was published in March 2025 in the world's leading dementia journal, Alzheimers & Dementia. The trial included 280 dyads of home-dwelling persons with dementia and their caregivers in a stepped wedge design and provided them with the multicomponent LIVE interventions encompassing Learning, Innovation, Volunteer services and Empowerment, and this intervention was delivered by a municipal coordinator. This intervention did not affect the trial's primary endpoint, caregiver burden resource utilization, yet we found that the caregiver reported clinical global impression of change improved over the trial, in particular related to the coordinator. We suggest that these results should be acknowledged when designing future health care services for families affected by dementia.听
In the articles below, you can read about other research results from the LIVE@Home.Path 辫谤辞箩别肠迟.听
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Scientific: 听
- Oral presentation at the International Psychogeriatric Association Lisbon 2023:听The effectiveness of a multicomponent intervention on caregiver burden and informal care time in home-dwelling people with dementia and their caregivers. Results from the stepped wedge randomized controlled LIVE@Home.Path trial. Berge LI, Angeles RC, Allore H, Vislapuu M, Gedde MH, Puschitz N, Ballard C, Aarsland D, Selb忙k G, Vahia I, Tzoulis C, Nouchi R, Huseb酶 B.听February 2024 International Psychogeriatrics鈥35(S1):107-108, DOI:
- Symposium at the International Psychogeriatric Association in Lisbon 2023: Learning from trials: LIVE@Home.Path, a stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial of care coordination and implementation for home-dwelling people with dementia. Husebo B, Vislapuu M, Gedde M, Angelies RC, Puaschitz N, Berge LI 听International Psychogeriatrics鈥,鈥疺olume 35鈥,鈥疘ssue S1鈥, December 2023鈥, pp. 4 DOI:鈥
- Symposium at the International Psychogeriatric Association in Lisbon 2023: Visualization of Pain and Agitation by System Analysis Algorithms. Husebo B, Berge LI, Erdal A and Patrascu M International Psychogeriatrics鈥,鈥疺olume 35鈥,鈥疘ssue S1鈥, December 2023鈥, pp. 38-39 DOI:
Popular science: 听
- 鈥 NRK Tr酶ndelag 鈥 Lokale nyheter, TV og radio
- (29.06.2021)
- . (bt.no) (04.02.2021)
- - NSCC (smartcarecluster.no) 听
Participating municipalities:听
Bergen, B忙rum, and Kristiansand
贵耻苍诲颈苍驳:听
- The Research Council of Norway
- The Dignity Centre
- Nasjonal kompetansetjeneste for kvinnehelse
- Oslo University Hospital
- GC Rieber Foundations
- Extrastiftelsen
People involved:
Principal investigator: Professor and Head of
Postdocs: ,听,听, and Nathalie Genevieve Puaschitz.
PhD Candidates:听, ,听,听and听