Dementia Rehabilitation - Chapter 13: Improving functional independence: Dementia rehabilitation programs

This chapter reviews research on a range of rehabilitation programs aiming to improve the functional independence of people with dementia, such as specialist-led or multimodal rehabilitation, cognitive rehabilitation, function-focused care, and reablement. Key principles underpinning the programs include being person-centered, and consideration of the person’s physical and psychosocial environments. Contributors to success are an individual rather than group format, tailored to individual needs, home-based where the person’s environment is taken into account, involving care partners whose needs are also supported, sufficient training, and experience of clinician interventionists and having adequate program dose and duration. Challenges and future directions for research and practice such as implementation research, knowledge translation into practice, and models of care are also discussed.