Individual research recommendation details

Recommendation ID

NG108/2

Question

Targeted interventions to support and improve decision-making capacity for treatment:- What is the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of different targeted interventions (speech and language therapy and psychological and psychosocial interventions) to support and improve decision-making capacity for treatment in specific groups?

Any explanatory notes
(if applicable)

Why this is important:- Evidence suggests that tailored approaches such as speech and language therapy and psychological and psychosocial interventions can lead to improvements in a person's capacity to make a decision.
However, the studies were limited in number and generally of low quality. The guideline committee agreed that further research in this area would be valuable, particularly in relation to the decisionmaking capacity for treatment of people with dementia, a learning disability, an acquired brain injury or a mental illness. Interventions should be designed to address the needs of those cohorts, should take into account the natural course of capacity (whether stable or fluctuating) and should be underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of the needs associated with each condition.
High-quality comparative studies evaluating the effectiveness of these different types of interventions (including participant experience of the interventions) are needed to help ensure that practitioners refer people to the most appropriate programmes. This would empower people to make their own decisions about their treatment wherever possible.

Source guidance details

Comes from guidance

Decision-making and mental capacity

Number

NG108

Date issued

October 2018

Other details