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Social networks, social capital and end-of-life care for people with dementia: a realist review

Sawyer, JM; Sallnow, L; Kupeli, N; Stone, P; Sampson, EL; (2019) Social networks, social capital and end-of-life care for people with dementia: a realist review. BMJ Open , 9 (12) , Article e030703. 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030703. Green open access

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES (1) To develop an understanding of how social capital may be conceptualised within the context of endof-life care and how it can influence outcomes for people with dementia and their families with specific reference to the context and mechanisms that explain observed outcomes. (2) To produce guidance for healthcare systems and researchers to better structure and design a public health approach to end-of-life care for people with dementia. DESIGN A realist review. Data sources MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and grey literature. ANALYSIS We conceptualised social capital as a complex intervention and, in order to understand how change is generated, used realist evaluation methods to create different configurations of context, mechanism and outcomes. We conducted an iterative search focusing on social capital, social networks and end-of-life care in dementia. All study designs and outcomes were screened and analysed to elicit explanations for a range of outcomes identified. Explanations were consolidated into an overarching programme theory that drew on substantive theory from the social sciences and a public health approach to palliative care. RESULTS We identified 118 articles from 16 countries ranging from 1992 to 2018. A total of 40 contextmechanism-outcome configurations help explain how social capital may influence end-of-life care for people with dementia. Such influence was identified within five key areas. These included: (1) socially orientating a person with dementia following diagnosis; (2) transitions in the physical environment of care; (3) how the caregiving experience is viewed by those directly involved with it; (4) transition of a person with dementia into the fourth age; (5) the decision making processes underpinning such processes. CONCLUSION This review contributes to the dispassionate understanding of how complex systems such as community and social capital might be viewed as a tool to improve end-of-life care for people with dementia. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER CRD42018084524.

Type: Article
Title: Social networks, social capital and end-of-life care for people with dementia: a realist review
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030703
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030703
Language: English
Additional information: This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry > Marie Curie Palliative Care
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10088083
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