Day care for demented elderly in a dairy farm setting: positive first impressions.
OBJECTIVE
Long-term care for demented patients in the Netherlands is changing. The focus is now more on quality of life and delaying institutionalization by offering substitutes to the traditional nursing home. In this article, we present a new type of day care, offered on a small dairy farm setting.


METHODS
A small observational study was performed to get a first impression of the effects of care farm day care on demented patients. Also, global comparisons were made between patients attending day care in the farm setting and patients attending regular day care in a nursing home.


RESULTS
Demented patients attending day care on the farm showed fewer behavioral problems, used, on average, fewer drugs, including psychotropic drugs, and were more actively involved in normal daily activities. Moreover, family caregivers were more satisfied with this new type of day care.


CONCLUSIONS
Currently, there is only a scant amount of information to support the therapeutic effects of day care in farm settings. This experience indicates a positive trend of this new form of day care. Well-designed longitudinal follow-up studies are needed to provide more substantial evidence of positive patient outcomes in this new care setting.
Schols
Jos M G A
JM
Department Tranzo, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands. J.M.G.A.Schols@uvt.nl
van der Schriek-van Meel
Conny
C
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003612:Dairying / Q000458:organization & administration; D003631:Day Care, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D009426:Netherlands; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012107:Research Design