Methods for Involving People With Dementia in Health Policy and Guideline Development: A Scoping Review.

Introduction: Patient and public involvement (PPI) is considered part of best‐practice for health care delivery, research and policy. However, people with dementia are frequently excluded from PPI initiatives. While recent studies have investigated PPI of people with dementia in research, little is...

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Published in:Health Expectations Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 1 - 16
Main Authors: Bühler, Felix, Geyer, Jennifer, Meyer, Gabriele, Bieber, Anja
Format: research systematic review tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Apr2025
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Apr2025
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      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
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        atl: Methods for Involving People With Dementia in Health Policy and Guideline Development: A Scoping Review.
      aug:
        au:
          Bühler, Felix
          Geyer, Jennifer
          Meyer, Gabriele
          Bieber, Anja
        affil: Institute of Health and Nursing Science, Medical Faculty of Martin Luther University Halle‐Wittenberg, University Medicine Halle, Halle (Saale), Germany
      sug:
        subj:
          Patient Participation Methods
          Dementia Patients
          Health Policy
          Policy Making
          Practice Guidelines
          Funding Source
          Human
          Scoping Review
          PubMed
          Medline
          CINAHL Database
          Cochrane Library
          Focus Groups
          Interviews
          Questionnaires
          Communication Skills
          Severity of Illness
      ab: Introduction: Patient and public involvement (PPI) is considered part of best‐practice for health care delivery, research and policy. However, people with dementia are frequently excluded from PPI initiatives. While recent studies have investigated PPI of people with dementia in research, little is known about their involvement at the macro‐level of care, that is, in health policy and guideline development. This scoping review maps the evidence on PPI of people with dementia at the macro‐level of care, focusing on the methods, outcomes and mechanisms of involvement. Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE via PubMed, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library and GeroLit. Additionally, we performed forward and backward citation searching, manually tracked individual references, searched abstract books and yearbooks, and contacted authors of included reports to seek additional references. We analysed each method's mechanisms of involvement to assess whether measures were taken to maximise effective information transfer. Results: We included 43 reports and identified 35 involvement methods, which we structured into six categories: 'focus groups and interviews', 'surveys and questionnaires', 'public events', 'meetings with decision‐makers', 'serving as members of working groups', and 'multiple‐step methods'. Most of the involvement took the form of consultations during the early stages of policy or guideline development. All involvement methods required verbal communication skills, almost all of the participants had mild dementia. We found that most reports did not clearly state the involvement outcomes. While a majority of methods had some facilitation in place to elicit information from participating people with dementia, only nine methods used a structured aggregation to synthesise participants' contributions into a joint statement. Conclusion: We found limited evidence of dementia‐adapted involvement. Future research might focus on exploring the mechanisms of involvement to adapt methods to specific target groups, such as people with impaired verbal communication or advanced dementia. We recommend using existing guidance to report PPI initiatives, as the reporting was often incomplete, which limits reproducibility. Patient or Public Contribution: We discussed both our study protocol and our results with a working group of people with dementia, who provided valuable insight for our data interpretation. Our findings can serve such groups for future consultations.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        systematic review
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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