MISU, a digital tool for improving nursing home care of persons diagnosed with BPSD (Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia): A mixed method development and evaluation

Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) occur at some point in approximately 90% of persons with dementia and can result in complex situations that negatively affect the person, as well as relatives and staff.

The existing BPSD-registry can support staff to work with BPSD in a structured way, but there is often a discrepancy between what is registered in the BPSD-registry and what is actually done in everyday care.The digital tool MISU (Model for Individualized Systematic follow-Up) provides an opportunity to support staff performing care actions to prevent and treat BPSD and promote person-centered care.

With its daily use, MISU can be understood as a pedagogical tool that reminds staff to perform actions, at the same time as outcomes regarding health and wellbeing are measured.

Consequently, MISU can complement the BPSD-registry by identifying whether care and support is relevant and effective.This study aims to develop and test an adaptation of MISU (MISU-BPSD) designed specifically for and with staff working with BPSD to improve care and quality of life for persons with BPSD, relatives and staff.

The study design includes two phases: a feasibility study and an intervention study.

The feasibility phase will include qualitative investigations of previous usage of MISU in disability care, use of co-production to design MISU for use with BPSD, and a mixed-methods pilot study of the developed MISU-BPSD, using both qualitative interviews with staff and analysis of quantitative data from MISU-BPSD about usage and compliance.

Phase two will include a full-scale intervention study with both qualitative and quantitative methods.

The aim of phase two is to investigate the impact of using MISU-BPSD with adults with BPSD as well as the associations between care actions, drug use, and BPSD symptoms.

An effective and user-friendly MISU-BPSD will assist caregivers to support persons at risk for BPSD and persons with BPSD to promote life quality.