Short breaks for people living with dementia and their carers: exploring wellbeing outcomes and informing future practice development through a Social Return on Investment approach

End of project summary

Main messages

Short breaks help support the wellbeing of people with care and support needs and their unpaid carers. Short breaks can help maintain caring relationships. However, we do not know much about the value of community-based short breaks.    

We wanted to find out if a community-based day support short break helped people living with dementia and their unpaid family carers to have good wellbeing. We also wanted to find out if this type of short break generated more value than it costs to provide.  

The day support service was called TRIO. In TRIO a small group of citizens (people living with dementia) who share similar interests meet once a week. They meet in the home of a paid companion who likes the same types of activities and spend time together doing things in the local community.  

We used a form of economic analysis called Social Return on Investment (SROI) to see if this type of short break delivered good value for money. We found:  

• It was important in this type of short break that people shared similar interests. It would be good if other short break options matched people together based on shared interests.   

• A caring and supportive relationship developed between citizens, unpaid carers, and TRIO companions. This was an important part of the day support that led to good outcomes.  

• Citizens reported good outcomes. They felt more socially connected and confident and had a sense of control over their activities. Unpaid carers said they received a break from caring with peace of mind. The caring relationship was maintained. 

• The wellbeing generated for citizens, unpaid carers and TRIO companions was of higher value than the cost of delivering the service, suggesting that it offers good value for money. 

• Future studies that look at the outcomes and value created by different types of short break are needed.