Marinho 2021.

Study characteristics
Methods	RCT
Participants	N = 47 (29F/18M) Clinical diagnosis of dementia according to DSM‐IV criteria (MMSE 10‐24) All participants receiving AChEI medication Clinical Dementia Rating: 23 mild; 24 moderate Age 77.8 (SD; 8.4; range 60‐91) Outpatients
Interventions	Cognitive stimulation groups (N = 23) Treatment‐as‐usual (N = 24)
Outcomes	Cognition: ADAS‐Cog Quality of life: QoL‐AD (self‐report and proxy) Mood: Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia ADL: ADCS‐ADL scale Caregiver outcomes: Zarit Burden Interview
Notes	45 minutes, 2 times a week, for 7 weeks (both weekly sessions on same day, separated by short break)
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Used a random list generated by a computer program; stratified by dementia severity
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not detailed who carried out the randomisation, and whether external to the study
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Outcome assessments carried out by researchers blind to the intervention
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Data provided for intention‐to‐treat analysis; reasons for dropouts described
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Results for all outcomes reported
Other bias ‐ training and supervision	Low risk	Facilitators trained by International CST centre
Other bias ‐ treatment manual	Low risk	Used Brazilian CST manual, adapted from Spector 2006