Psychosocial interventions are essential to support people living with dementia and their carers. A consensus on what is most important for research on psychosocial intervention in dementia and how intervention studies should best be conducted is currently lacking. This protocol describes the research plan aimed at achieving consensus on (i) the relevance of core elements (CEs) for the development, feasibility testing/piloting, evaluation and/or implementation phases of psychosocial interventions in dementia and (ii) methodologies (eg, design) and methods most suitable to address CEs per phase.

This study was co-designed with a multi-stakeholder advisory group and a multi-disciplinary INTERDEM (psychosocial INTERventions in DEMentia) Methodology Taskforce steering committee. It will involve a multi-phase modified Delphi design, including surveys and group discussions with stakeholders, namely people living with dementia, (informal/unpaid/family) carers, health and social care professionals, policy makers, representatives from insurance companies and psychosocial researchers. A series of iterative ‘rounds’ will be conducted. In round 1 (Phase 1: ‘identification’), stakeholders will be asked to complete an online survey rating the importance of CEs from the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) Framework, namely (i) consider context; (ii) develop, refine and (retest) programme theory; (iii) engage stakeholders; (iv) identify key uncertainties; (v) refine interventions and (vi) economic considerations per phase; propose relevant additional CEs and list methodologies/methods that most suitably address CEs. These ratings will be further explored through online discussion rounds (Phase 2: ‘elaboration’). In round 2 (Phase 3: ‘consensus’), participants will be asked to rate the importance of CEs again (ie, new CEs and where no consensus was reached in Phase 1) and the usefulness of methodologies/methods to address CEs. Outcomes will be discussed with the advisory group and steering committee (Phase 4: ‘validation’). This process (Phases 3 and 4) will be repeated until a consensus on CEs and methodologies/methods is achieved.

Ethical approval was received at Maastricht University (FHML-REC/2025/078) and the University of West London (UWL/REC/SBS-01195). Participants will sign informed consent prior to study participation. Results will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication, seminars, webinars, conferences, postgraduate dementia programmes, blogs, commissioner briefings and social media.

Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/DQRFA).

Gender, sex and ethnicity-sensitive approaches to psychosocial interventions for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia have been under-represented in the literature. Although the initial findings have revealed relevant differences with regard to sex, gender and ethnicity-sensitive approaches to those interventions. The GenderDem study aims to identify the top-10 research priorities in this context for future dementia care research.

The methodological approach in GenderDem is based on the James Lind Alliance Guidebook and the concept of priority setting partnerships. In this participatory research approach, people living with dementia, their caregivers (and/or their loved ones) and healthcare professionals will be actively involved in the study. As members of a steering group, they act as coresearchers in the GenderDem study. We aim to recruit a diverse group of people for the steering group by considering different factors, eg, gender identity, sex, ethnicity and age. Future research priorities will be identified through two rounds of online surveys to collect and rank research topics from additional participants (eg, people with dementia, caregivers and/or loved ones and healthcare professionals). Additionally, a literature review and a workshop will be carried out in parallel to consider the current state of the research and to finalise the top-10 research priorities.

An ethics application for conducting the two surveys and the workshop for this study has been approved by the German Society of Nursing Science (No. 25-029). Study participants will be informed in detail about the voluntary nature of their participation. Together with the coresearchers from the steering group, we will develop a dissemination plan that considers the different media consumption forms of the various groups. Additionally, we will disseminate our project results on an ongoing basis.

Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) affect up to 80% of people with dementia and pose significant challenges in the context of care. Psychosocial interventions have been recommended as first-line strategies, but the roles of aspects of sex, gender and ethnicity in this context remain underexplored. This umbrella review, which will be conducted as part of the GenderDem project, aims to synthesise existing reviews on psychosocial interventions for BPSD and to investigate the potential sex-, gender- and ethnicity-sensitive differences among them.

Our GenderDem project follows the methodology of the James Lind Alliance for Priority Setting Partnerships. As part of this approach, this participatory umbrella review actively involves people living with dementia, their caregivers and/or loved ones and healthcare professionals in examining the existing review literature.

Different types of reviews on this topic will be identified by reference to the databases MEDLINE (via PubMed), CINAHL (via EBSCO) and PsycInfo (via Ovid) databases. Two reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts and full texts using Rayyan. Data will be extracted in line with the Criteria for Reporting the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions in healthcare: revised reporting guidelines, supplemented with items pertaining to gender, sex and ethnicity. The results will be summarised descriptively, and relevant intervention types (including whether sex/gender/ethnicity has been taken into consideration), the characteristics of the study populations, outcomes and research gaps will be highlighted.

Ethical approval is not required, as this umbrella review will include only data from published studies. The findings of this review will be disseminated through a publication in a peer-reviewed journal and conference presentations.