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The National Dementia Workforce Study: Overview
Donovan T. Maust, James R. Wagner, Sheryl Itkin Zimmerman, Laura M. Wagner, Steven C. Marcus, Elizabeth M. White, Rachel S. Tocco, Joanie Rothstein et al.. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2025-09-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Meeting the care needs of people with dementia is a major public health and societal challenge. In 2020, over 6 million Americans had Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia, and this is projected to increase to 14 million by 2060. Their care needs incur nearly $30,000 more in mean annual costs per person compared to peers without dementia, and overall costs are expected to rise to $1.6 trillion within 15 years. People with dementia experience poorly coordinated care, high emergency department use, elevated hospitalization rates, and substantial variation in care. Gaps in training and high workforce turnover rates, particularly in home care and residential settings, may contribute to these outcomes. Providing quality care for dementia requires a well-trained, multidisciplinary workforce, but we lack a thorough understanding of the professionals currently providing care and the extent to which their training and composition influence outcomes. The National Dementia Workforce Study (NDWS) aims to investigate these issues on an unprecedented scale through a series of comprehensive annual surveys of dementia care providers across multiple care settings, rooted in a conceptual framework inspired by the Donabedian and Quality Health Outcomes models. Our goals are to generate a new data infrastructure and, by integrating novel survey data with other data sources, equip the research community with new tools to study relationships between workforce characteristics, care processes, and outcomes for people with dementia. Findings will provide insights into workforce dynamics, training needs, and care quality and inform strategies to improve dementia care policy, workforce capacity, and practice.
Key findings
- Their care needs incur nearly $30,000 more in mean annual costs per person compared to peers without dementia, and overall costs are expected to rise to $1.6 trillion within 15 years.
Why it matters
This overview describes a planned study to survey the dementia care workforce and understand how training and composition affect care outcomes. It does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 45/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society: journal h-index 344 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 2 / 7 | Cited 8 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 1 / 5 | 2.7 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 9.7× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 1 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 8 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Joanne Spetz: h-index 45 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of Michigan: institution h-index 2,240 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 3 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 10 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40888611) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 45 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1111/jgs.70061
- PubMed: 40888611
- Original source →
- Free full text: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Maust, D. T., Wagner, J. R., Zimmerman, S. I., Wagner, L. M., Marcus, S. C., White, E. M., et al. (2025). The National Dementia Workforce Study: Overview. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.70061
Vancouver
Maust DT, Wagner JR, Zimmerman SI, Wagner LM, Marcus SC, White EM, et al. The National Dementia Workforce Study: Overview. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2025. doi:10.1111/jgs.70061. PMID: 40888611.
BibTeX
@article{maust2025-40888611,
author = {Maust, Donovan T. and Wagner, James R. and Zimmerman, Sheryl Itkin and Wagner, Laura M. and Marcus, Steven C. and White, Elizabeth M. and Tocco, Rachel S. and Rothstein, Joanie and others},
title = {{The National Dementia Workforce Study: Overview}},
journal = {Journal of the American Geriatrics Society},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1111/jgs.70061},
pmid = {40888611},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.70061}
}
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