Supporting decision making for individuals living with dementia and their care partners with knowledge translation: an umbrella review

Abstract

Living with dementia requires decision making about numerous topics including daily activities and advance care planning (ACP). Both individuals living with dementia and care partners require informed support for decision making. We conducted an umbrella review to assess knowledge translation (KT) interventions supporting decision making for individuals living with dementia and their informal care partners. Four databases were searched using 50 different search-terms, identifying 22 reviews presenting 32 KT interventions. The most common KT decision topic was ACP (N=21) which includes advanced care directives, feeding options, and placement in long-term care. The majority of KT interventions targeted care partners only (N=16), or both care partners and individuals living with dementia (N=13), with fewer interventions (N=3) targeting individuals living with dementia. Overall, our umbrella review offers insights into the beneficial impacts of KT interventions, such as increased knowledge and confidence, and decreased decisional conflicts.