Case Management Strategies for Dementia Care

Case management in dementia care encompasses a coordinated approach in which a designated professional guides individuals and their families through the complexities of health, social and community services. Strategies range from intensive models in which a single case manager delivers tailored support throughout the illness trajectory, to linkage models that broker services across multiple agencies. Core features include comprehensive assessment, personalised care planning, proactive monitoring and timely adjustment of interventions. Effective programmes emphasise multidisciplinary collaboration, continuity of care and empowerment of people living with dementia and their carers. Innovative approaches integrate physical and mental health management, leverage digital tools for remote monitoring and support self-management skills. Globally, case management has been adopted to reduce fragmentation of care, improve quality of life and optimise resource use, with growing interest in adapting models to diverse cultural and organisational contexts.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Case Management Strategies for Dementia Care publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in case management strategies for dementia care across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Case management: A coordinated process led by a designated professional who assesses needs, plans care, monitors progress and adjusts interventions across services.

Person-centred care: An approach that respects and responds to individual preferences, needs and values, ensuring that patient values guide all decisions.

Multidisciplinary team: A group of professionals from different disciplines working together to address the complex needs of a person with dementia in a coordinated manner.

Self-management: Supportive interventions that enable individuals and carers to acquire skills and confidence to manage health conditions and daily challenges independently.

References

1. Integrated physical and mental management for China’s elderly: insights from Long-gang District, Shenzhen. Frontiers in Aging (2024).
2. An exploration of how specialist dementia nurses perceive and maintain the skills and competencies that frame their specialism: A qualitative survey. Heliyon (2024).
3. What works in managing complex conditions in older people in primary and community care? A state‐of‐the‐art review. Health & Social Care in the Community (2020).
4. Impact of health service interventions on acute hospital use in community-dwelling persons with dementia: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE (2019).
5. Towards personalized integrated dementia care: a qualitative study into the implementation of different models of case management. BMC Geriatrics (2014).