FITS into practice: translating research into practice in reducing the use of anti-psychotic medication for people with dementia living in care homes

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the 67 care homes that completed.

	Size of care home by maximum capacity
	Small (fewer than 30 residents)		Medium (30–64 residents)	Large (65 or more residents)
Number of homes	8		42	17
	Registration			Homes considering themselves to be dementia specialists
	Care only		Care with nursing
Number of homes	26		41	57
	Size of owning organisation
	Small (fewer than 3 homes)		Medium (3–10 homes)	Large (more than 10 homes)
Number of homes	11		10	46
	Business type of owner
	Not for profit	For profit	Registered charity	Local authority	Other
Number of homes	7	50	2	8	0

Table 2. DCC completion and attrition.

	Training phase		Supervision phase		Overall
Number of DCC's originally registered	Number of DCC's who failed to complete at least 8/10 training days	Number of DCC's on course to complete after training phase	Number of DCC's who failed to complete at least 4/6 supervision sessions	Number of DCC's who completed supervision phase	Total number of DCC's who completed programme	Total number of DCCs who withdrew
100	14	86	20	66	66	34

Figure 1. Reasons for DCC dropout of training and supervision (n = 34).

Table 3. Percentage of respondents rating training as 4 or 5 (on a 5-point scale where 1 is poor and 5 is good).

	Days 1&2	Days 3&4	Days 5&6	Days 7&8	Days 9&10
Course content	91%	95%	97%	100%	100%
Pace	89%	93%	96%	100%	98%
Learning methods	92%	97%	97%	99%	99%
Standards of presentation	95%	98%	97%	100%	100%

Table 4. DCC rating of most useful things from the FITS training.

Most useful things	Number of DCCs who listed it as most useful
Improved knowledge re person-centred dementia care	24
Cohen-Mansfield tool box	24
Information on anti-psychotic medication and reduction	23
Education resources/staff training tools/techniques	19
Meaningful activities	18
Networking/sharing experiences	15
GAS tool	14
Life history	10
Positive language	7
Change way see behaviour	6
(Improving) communication	6
Memory boxes	6
Alternatives to drugs	5
Environment	5
Care plans/audit of care plans	2
Other (various – suggested by only one DC)	22

Table 5. ADQ scores at different time points (n = 51 DCCs).

Score	Pre-training to post-training	Pre-training to post-supervision	Post-training to post-supervision
ADQ overall	Improvement (CI = 0.05, p = –0.005)	Improvement (CI = 0.05, p = –0.000002)	Improvement
Hope factor	Improvement	Improvement (CI = 0.05, p = –0.00004)	Improvement
Person-centred factor	Improvement (CI = 0.05, p = –0.003)	Improvement (CI = 0.05, p = –0.0002)	Improvement

Table 6. Changes in anti-psychotic prescriptions by quartiles of lowest to highest baseline prescription rates and magnitude of change.

Quartile1 (n = 13)		Quartile2 (n = 13)		Quartile3 (n = 13)		Quartile4 (n = 14)
Baseline	Post	Baseline	Post	Baseline	Post	Baseline	Post
Mean 5.80% (range 0%–9.0%)	Mean 5.90% (range 0%–14.2%)	Mean 14.20% (range 9.7%–17.6%)	Mean 9.30% (range 0%–16.7%)	Mean 20.90% (range 18.3%–26.9%)	Mean 17% (range 0%–33.3%)	Mean 39.70% (range 29%–100%)	Mean 22.40% (range 22%–100%)
χ^2 = 0.01		χ^2 = 4.46		χ^2 = 2.20		χ^2 = 24.60
p = 0.94		p = 0.034		p = 0.14		p > 0.00001
Decrease from baseline				Increase from baseline
>15%	15%–10%	10%–5%	5%–0%	0%–5%	5%–10%	10%–15%	>15%
7 homes	8 homes	10 homes	22 homes	1 home	4 homes	0 homes	1 home