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Dementia care is an issue of increasing policy focus, with person centred approaches becoming synonymous with quality provision in this area. However, the implementation and efficacy of this approach is difficult to measure and there are still huge variations in working practices, with task centred approaches traditionally predominating over more holistic forms of care. In order to address these issues the procedure of dementia care mapping has been developed, which aims to assess the wellbeing of people with dementia and other vulnerable groups through the observation of communal activities. This article aims to critically assess the implementation of a person centred approach.

With the use of dementia care mapping, this article assesses the implementation of a person centred approach with a group of care home residents. All were female, their ages ranged from 77 to 92.

It is shown that while participants potentially experienced many benefits from person centred approaches and the social engagement and integration that derived from this, its efficacy and impact was undermined by contextual factors such as staff shortages.

In order that contextual factors are recognised and addressed, practice should transcend its focus on the promotion of individual wellbeing and address the wider group and social contexts which can facilitate or prevent its fulfilment.

The focus of interest in dementia in people with learning disabilities has been largely on epidemiology, prevalence, assessment and diagnosis. There has been less focus on care issues and interventions, with a paucity of research papers but a growing number of books and resource packs addressing these issues. Psychological and non‐pharmacological approaches are useful in services for people with learning disabilities and dementia, but must be delivered in line with a clear conceptual framework of dementia that aids staff in understanding what is happening to the person with dementia and the effect of their care and responses. This paper describes the most commonly used approaches, including developing an understanding of dementia, anxiety and stress reduction, life story work, reminiscence, reality orientation and validation techniques, helping peers to understand dementia, other therapeutic approaches, and understanding behaviour and dementia care mapping and their impact on the well‐being of people with learning disabilities and dementia and the people who support them.

Education and training is vital in improving age-related care provisions. However, a lack of awareness and understanding of dementia could be a factor in meeting the age-related needs of people. This paper aims to examine the impact dementia education has on caregivers’ confidence to provide person-centred care for people with intellectual disability and identifies additional training needs.

A systematic scoping review was completed using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses to guide the process of mapping existing evidence of dementia education and training programmes available to caregivers of people with intellectual disability.

A search of five electronic databases identified 11 articles that reported on the role of dementia education in improving the knowledge of caregivers in effectively delivering the age-related care. Findings suggest that improved training provision is needed to support early diagnosis and increase caregivers’ confidence in meeting the physical and psychological needs of older adults with intellectual disability.

This review contributes to the literature by identifying the value of and need for continued development in dementia education and training to improve person-centred dementia care.

Enabling people with dementia to continue to communicate their views, needs and preferences as their condition progresses is essential for development of person‐centred services and care facilities. This paper describes part of a 15‐month research project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It examined the effectiveness of Talking Mats, a low‐technology communication tool, to help people with dementia express their opinions, in comparison with usual communication methods. The study involved 31 people at different stages of dementia who were interviewed about their well‐being under three conditions: unstructured (ordinary) conversation, structured conversation and Talking Mats conversation. The study found that Talking Mats can improve the communication ability of many people at all stages of dementia in expressing their views about their well‐being.

With the increase in the development of treatments that aim to improve the symptoms of dementia, more attention is focussed upon the effect that these treatments have on the patient's quality of life (QoL). There are specific challenges to be met in measuring the QoL of a patient who is in the later, more severe, stages of dementia. The main challenge to be met is whether the QoL measure can measure QoL in an individual who is unable to provide a subjective report of his or her own QoL. This paper presents five QoL measures that have been designed or used to measure the QoL of patients with severe dementia who are unable to provide self‐reports and to examine whether these measures are a valid and reliable means of assessing QoL in patients with severe dementia. It was found that all of the QoL measures have moderate to good reliability and validity, but the question still remains that without a subjective account, such as a self‐report from the person with dementia, is the outcome of these QoL measures a true reflection of the patient's QoL?

Through a literature review, this article aims to identify the needs of those people with dementia who wish to remain at home, and those of their carers. It goes on to model a range of services that can be linked together to meet these needs comprehensively.

Reminiscence involves individuals discussing memories and experiences from their remembered past. With the aid of memory‐jogging materials such as photographs, music and newspapers, reminiscence has been widely used with older adults who have significant memory impairments as a consequence of dementia. This paper seeks to describe the use of reminiscence within a brain injury rehabilitation unit, including how to facilitate sessions and explore outcomes when using it with individuals who have brain injuries. Dementia Care Mapping was used to measure mood and engagement of participants in a reminiscence group, and self‐ratings that allow participants to comment about sessions were also obtained. Results indicate improvements in mood and engagement, as well as positive ratings from participants. Recommendations regarding the use of reminiscence are extended to include using it with adults with acquired brain injury within residential, day or community settings.

About five per cent of ‐ generally very frail ‐ older people live in long‐term care in the UK; approximately a fifth of all deaths occur in care homes. Depression and dementia are prevalent mental health conditions in care homes; depression is reported in around a third of residents and dementia in two thirds. While there is some evidence about efficacy of medication in treating psychiatric and behavioural symptoms among residents, much less is known about the potential role of psychosocial interventions in enhancing mental health and quality of life. Quality of care varies widely across the carehome sector including support from primary and specialist health and quality and level of training. In terms of enhancing care quality, there is evidence that investing in staff training and conditions, establishing good links with healthcare providers, and developing care standards that genuinely promote good practice are likely to improve resident quality of life. This is an exciting area for research development and practice innovation for the future; taking account of users perspective, holds particular potential.

The purpose of this paper is to report on outcomes for carers of people with dementia who use the services of Hawthorn House, a day respite centre in rural Western Australia that is based on the Eden Principles.

Quantitative and qualitative data from carers was collected and analysed. Quantitative data included the General Health Questionnaire‐12, Zarit Burden Interview, and Eden survey. Qualitative data was from semi‐structured interviews. Validation was confirmed and then simple statistics were generated from the quantitative data. Thematic analysis was used with the qualitative data.

Carers of people with dementia who use the services of Hawthorn House confirm that the Eden Principles are an integral part of Hawthorn House and report better than average health, less stress/burden and better quality of life. Many attribute this to the services they receive from Hawthorn House.

Participants for the study were self‐selecting.

The paper provides verification that the Eden Principles can lead to meaningful and important benefits for carers of people with dementia.

This paper is the first to report on the use of the Eden Principles in a non full‐time respite centre for people with dementia in rural Australia. Further, it describes quantitative and qualitative data on quality of life outcomes for carers as a result of being associated with the centre.