Quality of Life in Dementia

The main focus of this research group is to understand the process of quality of life-stabilization at the end of life in individuals diagnosed with dementia.

Within the framework of the “Zurich Life and Death with Advanced Dementia” Study (ZULIDAD) the group conducts longitudinal analyses on an internationally unique representative sample of 91’000 participants to investigate trends and trajectories in health status and treatment (ZULIDAD A). In addition, the group plans to match the ZULIDAD database with other large Swiss health care databases (e.g., databases of health insurance companies). Likewise, comparative analyses with an internationally established tool for comprehensive routine assessments of nursing home residents (i.e., RAI-MDS) from other countries will be performed. In a subproject (ZULIDAD B), longitudinal data have been collected to examine levels of comfort and discomfort on quality of care, satisfaction with care in family members, as well as quality of life of nursing home residents with advanced dementia during their last phase of life. The project DemFACTS (“Facts boxes for burdensome medical interventions in dementia palliative care”) investigates the efficacy of facts boxes in a randomized intervention study with a pre-post design. Facts boxes are information tools specifically designed to communicate scientific evidence in an easily understandable verbal and numerical form.