BACKGROUND: Informal caregivers play a vital role in supporting people living with dementia (PLwD) but often experience high levels of stress and limited support. Caregiver training programmes (CTPs) aim to improve caregiver knowledge, coping strategies and resilience, potentially reducing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) and delaying transitions to long-term care. This study evaluated the cost effectiveness of CTPs compared with usual care in the UK. METHODS: A decision tree economic model was developed in Microsoft Excel to simulate outcomes for a hypothetical cohort of community-dwelling PLwD and their caregivers. The model compared CTPs delivered in addition to usual care with usual care alone over 3- and 6-month time horizons, using a health and social care perspective. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were estimated using EQ-5D utility values linked to changes in BPSD. Costs were sourced from published literature, UK national data sets and routinely collected service-use data. RESULTS: In the 3-month model, CTPs resulted in higher costs and modest QALY gains. In the 6-month model, CTPs were associated with lower costs and greater health benefits, suggesting potential longer-term cost-effectiveness. The intervention was dominant in the 6-month scenario, driven mainly by reduced probability of care home admission. Results were most sensitive to assumptions regarding care home admission risk. CONCLUSION: CTPs may represent a cost-effective intervention within UK dementia care, although results remain sensitive to transition probability assumptions.
Eaglestone et al. (Mon,) studied this question.