A review of Canadian and international dementia strategies

Abstract

To inform future strategy development in Canada and other jurisdictions, we undertook an Internet search to identify existing national and Canadian provincial dementia strategies and their major themes. Twenty-two dementia strategies were identified through an Internet search, supplemented by hand searches of reference lists of retrieved documents. Thematic analysis identified 17 strategic themes; common themes included improved diagnoses and assessments, increased access to care, and improved education of the healthcare workforce. This review reinforces the importance of a multi-faceted response to dementia and illustrates that, despite variation in needs across populations and geographies, there are many common priorities. The strategic themes identified in this review may provide a useful starting point for the development of new national strategies or, alternatively, as a check to determine if important priority areas have been missed in strategy development.