Peer Support and Engagement Strategies in Dementia Care

Effective dementia care increasingly draws upon peer support and structured engagement strategies to complement clinical interventions. Peer support harnesses the lived experience of former carers or individuals with mild cognitive impairment to offer emotional, informational and practical assistance to people living with dementia and their families. Engagement strategies encompass tailored activities—ranging from reminiscence groups to Montessori-inspired exercises—designed to stimulate cognition, reduce behavioural and psychological symptoms and foster social interaction. Together, these approaches aim to alleviate carer burden, enhance quality of life for people with dementia and bridge gaps in formal care provision. By integrating volunteers and trained peers into community and long-term care settings, programmes can promote resilience, mutual learning and sustained involvement, while also offering volunteers reciprocal rewards in terms of well-being and skill development. Globally, these models address workforce shortages, cultural diversity and the need for cost-effective, person-centred support across care environments.

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Peer Support and Engagement Strategies in Dementia Care publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in peer support and engagement strategies in dementia care across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Peer support: Reciprocal relationships in which individuals draw on shared experiences to provide emotional and practical assistance.

Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD): A spectrum of non-cognitive manifestations in dementia, including agitation, depression and psychosis.

Montessori method: An educational approach adapted for dementia care, emphasising structured, person-centred activities that match tasks to individual abilities.

Carer burden: The physical, emotional and financial strain experienced by informal caregivers of people with dementia.

References

1. The effects of involvement in training and volunteering with families of people with dementia on the knowledge and attitudes of volunteers towards dementia. BMC Public Health (2022).
2. Being a trained volunteer Peer Supporter for carers of people living with dementia in Norway: Reciprocal benefits and challenges. Health & Social Care in the Community (2020).
3. Effects of a culturally adapted group based Montessori based activities on engagement and affect in Chinese older people with dementia: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Geriatrics (2021).