The DICE Approach: Guiding the Caregiver in Managing the Behavioral Symptoms of Dementia

Internationally renowned and now available to the public! The DICE Approach™ is the leading evidence-informed method for assessing and managing the behavioral symptoms of dementia. The creators of The DICE Approach™ have written an easy-to-understand and use manual to help guide family or facility caregivers through the use of the method.

There are an estimated 16 million informal (family or friend) caregivers of people living with dementia in the US and those numbers will increase rapidly as baby boomers age. While dementia is often thought of by the general public as a “memory” disorder”, memory problems are almost universally accompanied by behavioral symptoms including depression, anxiety, apathy, hallucinations, agitation, aggression and many more. One or more of these behaviors will affect nearly every person with dementia over the course of the illness, causing one of the most difficult, stressful and costly aspects of care, and often, stress, burden and depression in caregivers. These symptoms are most often treated with psychiatric medications, but in many cases, we are merely sedating the person with dementia, rather than dealing with the problems and triggers underlying the behavioral symptom.

Recognizing this critical gap in care, Drs. Kales, Gitlin and Lyketsos created and published The DICE Approach™ in 2014 in the form of a research paper. The approach was designed to be an easy to use, step by step method for assessing and managing behaviors in dementia. DICE stands for Describe, Investigate, Create, and Evaluate. It is an adaptation of the reasoning process used by dementia behavior specialists as well as in numerous research trials involving training family caregivers to spot behavioral triggers and to use behavioral management skills.

Since then, The DICE Approach™ has gained national and international attention and is now used in many dementia clinics, hospitals and long-term care facilities. Using feedback from caregivers trained in the method, Dr. Kales, along with Drs. Gitlin and Lyketsos, have created the official manual for The DICE Approach™. Its 124 color pages provide expert training in each step of the approach. In addition, the manual contains easy to understand information about brain changes and behaviors in dementia, commonly used medications, how to build and interact with your support team, and how caregivers can care for themselves during the chaos and stress of caring for others.

This is the essential guidebook for anyone who cares for a person living with dementia whether at home or within a facility.