Dataset Information

Towards personalized dementia care through meaningful activities supported by technology: A multisite qualitative study with care professionals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Person-centred care is widely recognised as important for helping people with dementia maintain a sense of self and purpose in life - especially for those living in care facilities. Despite this, most care practices still adopt a medical approach in which physical needs are prioritized over psychosocial well-being. Addressing the need to find ways of promoting person-centred approaches in care, this study explored care professionals' reflections on a novel, technological intervention (SENSE-GARDEN) that combines multisensory stimuli and digital media to create personalized environments for people with dementia. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of care professionals who had used SENSE-GARDEN for approximately 1 year.

Methods

Three care homes in Norway, Belgium, and Portugal and 1 hospital in Romania used the SENSE-GARDEN with residents/patients with moderate to severe dementia over the course of 1 year. Qualitative data - including observations and interviews with 2 care professionals - were collected at the beginning of the study period from the Norwegian care home to explore initial impressions of the new SENSE-GARDEN room. At the end of the study period, 8 care professionals across the 4 facilities were interviewed for an in-depth exploration of their experiences. The two sets of data were analysed separately through reflexive thematic analysis.

Results

At the beginning of the study period, the staffs' focus was mainly on the novelty of the new SENSE-GARDEN room and how it provided opportunities for meaningful experiences. Post-intervention, the care professionals provided reflective accounts on how care could be delivered in alternative ways to standard practice. The themes generated from the post-intervention interviews were: "shifting focus onto personalized care", "building and fostering relationships", and "continuous discoveries". Through delivering person-centred care, the professionals reported a sense of purpose and achievement in their work.

Conclusions

Professionals from care facilities across 4 different countries highlighted the value of interventions such as SENSE-GARDEN as a way of creating opportunities to better know people with dementia. Thus, they experienced improved relationships and greater job satisfaction. However, delivering person-centred interventions is time-consuming, and future research should evaluate the feasibility of sustaining them on a long-term basis.

SUBMITTER: Goodall G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8380345 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:There is a growing interest in using technology to provide meaningful activities for people living with dementia. The aim of this systematic review was to identify and explore the different types of digital technologies used in creating individualized, meaningful activities for people living with dementia. From 1414 articles identified from searches in four databases, 29 articles were included in the review. The inclusion criteria were the study used digital technology to deliver an individually tailored activity to participants with dementia, the process of individualization was described, and findings relating to the mental, physical, social, and/or emotional well-being of the participant were reported. Data extracted from the included studies included participant demographics, aims, methods, and outcomes. The following information on the technology was also extracted: purpose, type, training, facilitation, and the individualization process. A narrative synthesis of the results grouped the various technologies into four main purposes: reminiscence/memory support, behavior management, stimulating engagement, and conversation/communication support. A broad range of technologies were studied, with varying methods of evaluation implemented to assess their effect. Overall, the use of technology in creating individualized, meaningful activities seems to be promising in terms of improving behavior and promoting relationships with others. Furthermore, most studies in this review involved the person with dementia in the individualization process of the technology, indicating that research in this area is adopting a more co-creative and inclusive approach. However, sample sizes of the included studies were small, and there was a lack of standardized outcome measures. Future studies should aim to build a more concrete evidence base by improving the methodological quality of research in this area. Findings from the review indicate that there is also a need for more evidence concerning the feasibility of implementing these technologies into care environments.

Project description:Quality of dementia care improves with a personalized approach to aged care, and knowledge of the disease process and unique care needs of residents with dementia. A personalized model of care can have a significant impact on the overall organizational culture in aged care homes. However, the dimensions of personalized aged care relating to dementia often remain under-managed. We aim to explore the factors that shape the dimensions of personalized dementia care in rural nursing homes using qualitative data of a mixed-method 'Harmony in the Bush' dementia study. The study participants included clinical managers, registered nurses, enrolled nurses and care workers from five rural aged care homes in Queensland and South Australia. One hundred and four staff participated in 65 semi-structured interviews and 20 focus groups at three phases: post-intervention, one-month follow-up and three-months follow-up. A multidimensional model of nursing home care quality developed by Rantz et al. (1998) was used in data coding and analysis of the factors. Three key themes including seven dimensions emerged from the findings: resident and family [resident and family centeredness, and assessment and care planning]; staff [staff education and training, staff-resident interaction and work-life balance]; and organization [leadership and organizational culture, and physical environment and safety]. A lack of consideration of family members views by management and staff, together with poorly integrated, holistic care plan, limited resources and absence of ongoing education for staff, resulted in an ineffective implementation of personalized dementia care. Understanding the dimensions and associated factors may assist in interpreting the multidimensional aspects of personalized approach in dementia care. Staff training on person-centered approach, assessment and plan, and building relationships among and between staff and residents are essential to improve the quality of care residents receive.

Project description:BackgroundThe number of people living with dementia is rapidly increasing. With dementia's impact on memory, communication, and self-identity, it is important to identify ways of meeting individual needs of diagnosed individuals and their caregivers. This study will test a new intervention, SENSE-GARDEN, that integrates autobiographical music, films, pictures, and scents with innovative technology to create an immersive environment tailored specifically for the individual.ObjectiveThe SENSE-GARDEN study is an Active Assisted Living Program-funded multicenter project. The primary objective of the study is to assess whether a personalized, innovative technology-based intervention can improve the well-being of older adults living with moderate to severe dementia. The study will also assess whether the intervention can improve coping and reduce burden in caregivers.MethodsA controlled before-after study design will be used. There will be 3 sites in 3 trial countries: Belgium, Norway, and Portugal. A total of 55 people with dementia (PWDs) will be recruited. All eligible participants for the study will be randomized into the intervention or control group. For the first three months of the study, all participants will receive the SENSE-GARDEN intervention. For the final month of the study, the intervention group will continue visits to the SENSE-GARDEN, and the control group will discontinue visits. A mixed-methods approach will be used, including the use of standardized outcome measures, quantitative physiological data, and qualitative interview data.ResultsThe trials commenced recruitment in August 2019, and all data are expected to be collected by the end of May 2020. A user-centered design process is underway, with results from the first phase of user interviews indicating that people with mild cognitive impairment, family caregivers, and professional caregivers consider the SENSE-GARDEN to be a potentially valuable tool in providing numerous benefits to dementia care. Feasibility testing of the SENSE-GARDEN has been completed and results are expected to be published in October 2019.ConclusionsFindings from the SENSE-GARDEN trials will provide insights into the use of technology for personalizing interventions to the PWD. This will have potential implications on not only dementia research, but it may also have influences on care practice.International registered report identifier (irrid)DERR1-10.2196/14096.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) programs are increasingly seen as the way in which education for health care professionals can be transformed, giving access to effective ongoing learning and training even where time or geographical barriers exist. Given the increasing emphasis on this mode of educational support for health care practitioners, it is vital that we can effectively evaluate and measure impact to ensure that TEL programs are effective and fit for purpose. This paper examines the current evidence base for the first time, in relation to the evaluation of TEL programs for health care professionals. OBJECTIVE:We conducted a systematic review of the current literature relating to the evaluation of TEL programs for health care professionals and critically appraised the quality of the studies. METHODS:This review employed specific search criteria to identify research studies that included evaluation of TEL for health care professionals. The databases searched included Medline Ovid, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature Plus Advanced, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, ZETOC, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Explore Digital Library, Allied and Complementary Medicine, and Education Resources Information Center between January 2006 and January 2017. An additional hand search for relevant articles from reference lists was undertaken. Each of the studies identified was critically appraised for quality using the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool. This approach produced a percentage total score for each study across specified categories. A proportion of the studies were independently assessed by an additional two reviewers. RESULTS:The review identified 21 studies that met the inclusion criteria. The studies included scored totals across eight categories within a range of 37%-95% and an average score of 68%. Studies that measured TEL using learner satisfaction surveys, or combined pretest and posttest knowledge score testing with learner satisfaction surveys, were found to be the most common types of TEL evaluations evident in the literature. The studies reviewed had low scores across reporting on ethical matters, design, and data collection categories. CONCLUSIONS:There continues to be a need to develop effective and standard TEL evaluation tools, and good quality studies that describe effective evaluation of TEL education for health care professionals. Studies often fail to provide sufficient detail to support transferability or direct future TEL health care education programs.