START Training – September 2025

Booking now open for our next START training dates for clinically and non-clinically qualified staff to deliver START. Email DoP.START@ucl.ac.uk

Book now

What is START? 

START is an eight session, manual-based one-to-one programme for family members of relatives with dementia, with the aim of reducing depression and anxiety in the short and long term.

Our clinical trial showed that START reduced depression and anxiety for family carers of people with dementia when measured at eight months and two years after they had received the intervention.  

Following the success of the START trial, we have funding from the Alzheimer’s Society to widen access to START by adapting it for delivery in the third sector and to Minority Ethnic (ME) groups, within existing structures of the Alzheimer’s Society (AS) and the South Asian community in the first instance.

Watch the below video to find out more about START and how it can help:

 

Embed this video to your website

We have shared the code below so that you can embed the above video onto your own service website:

<div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:56%;padding-top:20px;height:0;"><iframe src="https://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/player?autostart=n&videoId=a6bgA3cb&captions=y&chapterId=0&playerJs=n" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

START Resources

Access to START resources is free. Resources include START manuals for carers and facilitators in English, Hindi and Urdu (for UK use), English, Kannada and Tamil (for India use), Japanese and Spanish. We also have START manuals for carers of people with PDD & DLB, as well as START Relaxation Exercises (MP3). 

To get access, we ask you to fill out the form below. Once completed you will be sent a link to our SharePoint site with all our resources available.

Contact us

We welcome collaborations with academic and clinical centres interested in translating and validating the use of START in different languages, settings and disease groups.

The references below contain links to the published papers about the START trial. They provide evidence about the clinical outcomes, the cost effectiveness data, what carers thought of the intervention and the full project report.

Scaling-up an evidence-based intervention for family carers of people with dementia: Current and future costs and outcomes

Knapp M, Lorenz‐Dant K, Walbaum M, Comas‐Herrera A, Cyhlarova E, Livingston G, Wittenberg R. (2024) International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Feb;39(2):e6059. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.6059

Acceptability and feasibility of a Japanese version of STrAtegies for RelaTives (START-J): A manualized coping strategy program for family caregivers of relatives living with dementia

Kashimura M, Rapaport P, Nomura T, Ishiwata A, Tateno A, Nogami A, Yamashita M, Kawanishi T, Kawashima Y, Kitamura S & Livingston G (2020) Dementia https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301220919938

Clinical effectiveness of the START (STrAtegies for RelaTives) psychological intervention for family carers and the effects on the cost of care for people with dementia: 6-year follow-up of a randomised  controlled trial

Livingston G, Manela M, O’Keeffe A, Rapaport A, Cooper C, Knapp M, King D, Romeo R, Walker Z, Hoe J, Mummery C and Barber J. (2019) The British Journal of Psychiatry doi: 10.1192/bjp.2019.160

Clinical effectiveness of a manual based coping strategy programme (START, STrAtegies for RelaTives) in promoting the mental health of carers of family members with dementia: pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Livingston G, Barber J, Rapaport P, Knapp M, Griffin M, Livingston D, Walker Z, Mummery C, Sampson E, Cooper C (2013).  BMJ 2013; 347:f276

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) full report. 

Livingston G, Barber J, Rapaport P, Knapp M, Griffin M, Romeo R, King D, Livingston D, Lewis-Holmes E, Mummery C, Walker Z, Hoe J, Cooper C (2014). Volume: 18, Issue: 61. https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/hta/HTA18610 

Cost-effectiveness of a manual-based coping strategy programme in promoting the mental health of family carers of people with dementia: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.

Knapp M, King D, Romeo R, Schehl, B, Barber J, Griffin M, Rapaport P, Livingston D, Mummery C Walker Z, Sampson E, Cooper C, Livingston G (2013). BMJ 2013; 347:f6342

START (STrAtegies for RelaTives) coping strategy for family carers of adults with dementia: qualitative study of participants' views about the intervention.

Sommerlad A, Manela M, Cooper C, Rapaport P, Livingston G (2014). http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/4/6/e005273.full

Coping strategies as mediators of the effect of the START (strategies for RelaTives) intervention on psychological morbidity for family carers of people with dementia in a randomised controlled trial.

Li R, Cooper C, Barber J, Rapaport P, Griffin M, Livingston G (2014). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25083601/

Long-term clinical and cost-effectiveness of psychological intervention for family carers of people with dementia: a single-blind, randomised, controlled trial.

Livingston G, Barber J, Rapaport P, Knapp M, Griffin M, King D, Romeo R, Livingston D, Mummery C, Walker Z, Hoe J, Cooper C (2014). http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(14)00073-X/fulltext

Effectiveness of START psychological intervention in reducing abuse by dementia family carers: randomized controlled trial.

Cooper C, Barber J, Griffin M, Rapaport P and Livingston G (2015). http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=10065248&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S1041610215002033