title: Enriching opportunities for people living with dementia in nursing homes: an evaluation of a multi-level activity-based model of care.
abstract: This paper reports on the evaluation of the Enriched Opportunities Programme in improving well-being, diversity of activity, health, and staff practice in nursing home care for people with dementia. Participants were 127 residents with a diagnosis of dementia or enduring mental health problems in three specialist nursing homes in the UK. A repeated measures within-subjects design was employed, collecting quantitative and qualitative data at three points over a twelve-month period in each facility with follow-up 7 to 14 months later. Two-way ANOVAs revealed a statistically significant increase in levels of observed well-being and in diversity of activity following the intervention. There was a statistically significant increase in the number of positive staff interventions but no change in the number of negative staff interventions overall. There was a significant reduction in levels of depression. No significant changes in anxiety, health status, hospitalisations, or psychotropic medication usage were observed. The Enriched Opportunities Programme demonstrated a positive impact on the lives of people with dementia in nursing homes already offering a relatively good standard of care, in a short period of time. The refined programme requires further evaluation to establish its portability.
authors.affiliation: Bradford Dementia Group, School of Health Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK. d.j.brooker@bradford.ac.uk
authors.forename: Dawn J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Brooker
authors.forename: Rosemary J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Woolley
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009735:Nursing Homes; D016730:Program Development; D011998:Recreation; D006113:United Kingdom