Delivering a hearing and vision support intervention for people with dementia: looking "under the hood" of the SENSE-Cog trial pre- and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Acceptable hearing and vision rehabilitation is needed to improve quality of life for people with dementia (PwD) living at home. We examined delivery and uptake of SENSE-Cog, a complex sensory support intervention (SSI), within a European multicentre randomised controlled trial.

The SENSE-Cog process analysis reveals that pandemic-related disruptions significantly affected sensory rehabilitation delivery for people with dementia; audiologists working in care settings should plan for remote or hybrid delivery models to maintain continuity when in-person access is restricted.

As the field moves toward integrating sensory rehabilitation into dementia care, understanding real-world delivery barriers — including pandemic-level disruptions — is essential for designing resilient, scalable hearing intervention programs.

1. 01SENSE-Cog trial examined hearing and vision rehabilitation for people with dementia across multiple sites.
2. 02COVID-19 pandemic substantially impacted the delivery and uptake of the intervention.
3. 03Process evaluation ('under the hood' analysis) identifies implementation barriers and facilitators.
4. 04Findings are relevant to designing robust sensory care pathways in dementia services.
5. 05Results may inform future hybrid or remote delivery models for sensory rehabilitation.

PMID

42212629

DOI

10.1080/09638288.2026.2676067.

Journal

Disability and Rehabilitation

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

1b

Population

People with dementia enrolled in the SENSE-Cog randomised trial requiring hearing and/or vision rehabilitation

Intervention

Hearing and vision sensory support rehabilitation intervention delivered within the SENSE-Cog trial

Comparator

Usual care or control arm within SENSE-Cog trial