Informal care plays a substantial role in the provision of total care. The number is expected to increase in the coming decades due to demographic and social-economic developments. More attention to informal care, the position of informal caregivers, the consequences of providing informal care and the inclusion of informal care in economic evaluations is therefore essential.

We conducted a study to evaluate possible effects of an integrated multidisciplinary approach with regard to dementia on caregiver outcomes. The study was part of a randomized controlled trial into the effects of an integrated approach to dementia by means of a Diagnostic Observation Centre for PsychoGeriatric patients (DOC-PG).

We found that significantly more patients in the intervention group made use of informal day care (i.e. day care provided by friends or family) at the baseline measurement. Another difference related to the costs of informal care, measured and valued with the proxy- good method, which were significantly higher in the usual care group at the 12 months follow- up. Finally, significantly more caregivers in the intervention group gave up unpaid work in order to care for the patients at the baseline measurement. No other differences between the groups were found.

Our results suggest that an integrated approach to dementia may have a positive effect on the amount of informal care since this amount increased more in the usual care group than in the intervention group after one year.