Shared decision tool to help veterans with dementia and caregivers choose ED care and discharge
Official title: A Shared Decision-Making Tool to Support Emergency Department (ED) Dispositions for Veterans with Dementia
Funded at Duke University · NIH-11349240 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project builds a simple tool to help veterans living with dementia and their families make emergency department care and discharge decisions together.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Duke University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Durham, United States) |
| Project start | September 30, 2021 |
| Project end | August 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $280,629 |
| NIH project number | 3R01AG072364-02S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11349240 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are veterans living with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias and their family or friend caregivers, especially those who have had recent emergency department visits or face ED care decisions.
✕Less likely to help
People without dementia, non-veterans, or individuals who never use emergency services are unlikely to benefit directly from this work.
What this research studies
You and your caregiver would be invited to join interviews and stakeholder panels to share what matters most about day-to-day life and care after an ED visit. The team will use those insights to design a decision-support tool and a clear way to count "home time" that reflects quality of life for people with dementia. They will test which definitions of "home time" best match outcomes that matter to you, and look for risk factors that, if changed, might increase safe time at home. A caregiver-specific version of the tool will also be developed to reflect caregiver priorities.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help veterans with dementia spend more safe time at home and make ED decisions that match their and their caregivers' wishes.
How similar studies have gone: Shared decision tools exist in other medical areas, but creating and validating a dementia-focused "home time" quality-of-life measure is a relatively new and untested approach.
Where this research is happening
-
Duke University
Durham, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Van Houtven, Courtney Harold — Duke University
- Study coordinator: Van Houtven, Courtney Harold
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.