A Community-Based Integrated Partnership Approach to Living Well with Dementia: Evaluating the Impact of the Sage House Model

A key societal priority is to support people with dementia and their care partners to live well, particularly through improved access to high-quality information, continuity of care, and consistent post-diagnostic support. The Sage House Model represents a novel, community-based approach to integrated dementia care, co-locating diagnostic assessment, tailored support services, psychosocial interventions, and opportunities for social engagement within a single accessible centre. By reducing fragmentation across health, social care, and voluntary sector provision, the model is designed to address key determinants of living well with dementia. The present study examined whether the Sage House Model is associated with key wellbeing outcomes for both people with dementia and care partners. Using a natural experiment design, outcomes were compared between participants accessing the Sage House centre in Tangmere and those receiving standard care. The sample included 135 people with dementia (Mage = 74.64, SD = 8.30) and 129 care partners (Mage = 67.23, SD = 9.84). A series of ANCOVAs indicated that people with dementia accessing Sage House reported significantly higher quality of life (p = .004, {omega}2 = .06), life satisfaction (p = .004, {omega}2 = .07), and wellbeing (p = .044, {omega}2 = .03) compared with those receiving standard care. In addition, care partners with access to Sage House reported significantly greater needs-based QoL, particularly in relation to improved access to information and support (p = .005, {omega}2 = .07). These findings provide initial empirical support for community-based integrated dementia care in enhancing wellbeing for people with dementia and their care partners, and highlight the value of co-located, multicomponent dementia services in addressing post-diagnostic gaps in real-world care.