Table 1.

Characteristics of Included Studies.

Refs	Intervention	Dementia stage	Treatment intensity (E)	Evaluation	Areas of intervention	Outcome	JCR
8	N = 18	NA	One-to-one sessions	Pre, weeks 4 and 8, post and follow-up	Behavior	Significant differences with C	Yes
	Randomized		12 weeks
	E1: MSSR 1 session/week		30 min/session
	E2: MSSR 3 sessions/week
	C: usual care
15,21	N = 136	NA	One-to-one sessions	Pre, mid, post and follow-up	Behavior	Limited short-term improvements for both groups.	Yes
	Randomized		4 weeks		Communication
	E: MSSR	Moderate to severe	2 sessions/week	Immediate effects	Mood	No significant differences between E and C
	C: activity sessions		30 min/session		Cognition
22	N = 27	Mild	4-5 people/session	Pre, post and follow-up	Mood: depression	Significant improvement	Yes
	No randomized		3 weeks
	Multisensory stimulation		4 sessions/week		Cognition
	No C
23	N = 40	NA	Group sessions	Pre and post	Behavior	No significant effect	No
	Randomized		10 weeks
	E: sensory integration		3 sessions/week		Functional status: ADL
	C: usual leisure activities		30-45 min/session
24	N = 125	Moderate to severe	15 months	Pre and post	Behavior	↓ loss of decorum, apathetic, rebellious and aggressive behavior	Yes
	Randomized					↓ depression, ↑ well-being
	E: MSSE integrated in daily care		1 session daily		Mood	↑ responding to speaking, relating to caregiver, normal-length sentences
	C: usual care				Communication
25	N = 117	Moderate to severe	15 months	Pre and post	Communication	↑ smiling, duration of eye contact and verbal expressed autonomy	Yes
	Randomized
	E: MSSE integrated in daily care		1 session daily			↓ negative verbal behaviors
	C: usual care
26	N = 6	Moderate to severe	16 weeks	Pre and post	Behavior	No significant effect	Yes
	No randomized
	Motor and multisensory stimulation integrated in daily care		1 session daily		Communication
	No C
27	N = 24	NA	One-to-one sessions	Post Immediate effects	Mood	All three environments improved mood. No evidence that any was better than other	Yes
	No randomized
	E1: MSSR		3 sessions of each activity
	E2: garden		16 min/session
	C: normal living environment
28	N = 4	Moderate to severe	One-to-one sessions 4 weeks	Immediate effects	Behavior	Positive effect (no statistical reported)	No
	No Randomized
	MSSR		2 sessions/week		Mood
	No C
29	N = 20	NA	One-to-one sessions	Immediate effects	Behavior	Significant improvement in both groups. No significant differences between E and C	Yes
	Randomized		2 weeks
	E: MSSR		3 sessions		Mood
	C: reminiscence		40 min/session
30	N = 20	NA	One-to-one sessions	Immediate effects	Behavior	Positive effect (no statistics reported)	Yes
	No randomized		1 year
	MSSR		30 min/session
	No C
31	N = 29	NA	One-to-one sessions	Immediate effects	Behavior	Positive effect (no statistics reported)	Yes
	No randomized		1-4 sessions		Mood
	MSSR		20-30 min/session		Communication
	No C
32	N = 14	NA	One-to-one sessions	Initial month and 3 months later	Behavior	Positive effect (no statistics reported)	Yes
	No randomized
	E: MSSR		Sporadic use
	C: usual care		15-20 min/session
33	N = 24	Moderate to severe	One-to-one sessions	Pre and 6 post sessions	Behavior	Significant improvement compared with C	Yes
	Randomized
	E: MSBT		6 sessions		Functional status: ADL
	C: recreational activity		25-30 min/session
34	N = 10	NA	3 weeks	Pre and post	Behavior	Positive effect (no statistics reported)	Yes
	No randomized		1-2 times/d
	MSSR (at home)		15-45 min/session	Immediate effects	Communication
	No C
35	N = 30	Moderate to severe	One-to-one sessions	Immediate effects	Functional status	Significant improvement in both groups. Participants in E improved significantly in motor skills for more sessions	Yes
	Randomized
	E: MSSR		4 weeks
	C: garden		3 sessions/week
36	N = 19	NA	One-to-one sessions	Pre, mid, and post	Functional status: balance	No significant effect	Yes
	Randomized		6 weeks
	E: MSSR		2 sessions/week
	C: volunteer visits		30 min/session

Abbreviations: ADL, activities of daily living; C, control group; E, experimental group; MSBT, multisensory behavior therapy; MSSE, multisensory stimulation environment; MSSR, multisensory stimulation room; NA, not available data; JCR, Journal Citation Reports.