title: Everyday activities for people with dementia in residential aged care: associations with person-centredness and quality of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Providing everyday activities is central to high quality residential aged care, but further research is needed on the association between activity participation, person-centred care and quality of life.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore the point-prevalence of participation in everyday activities for residents with dementia within a national sample of Swedish residential aged care units and to explore if residents participating in everyday activities lived in more person-centred units and/or had higher quality of life as compared to residents not participating in everyday activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional design was used to collect valid and reliable questionnaire data on activity participation, unit person-centredness and quality of life in a sample of residents in residential aged care (n = 1266).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 18% of residents participated in everyday activities such as making coffee, setting or clearing the table, cleaning or watering plants, 62% participated in outdoor walks, 27% participated in parlour games, and 14% and 13% participated in excursions and church visits, respectively. Those residents who had participated in everyday activities lived in more person-centred units, had significantly higher quality of life and higher cognitive scores as compared to those residents who had not participated in everyday activities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even though the prevalence of resident participation in everyday activities was low, resident participation was significantly associated with unit person-centredness and resident quality of life. It seems that everyday activities that are routine and commonplace to residential aged care can be potent nursing interventions for promoting resident quality of life.
authors.affiliation: La Trobe University/Austin Health Clinical School of Nursing, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Nursing, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Edvardsson
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Petersson
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sjogren
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lindkvist
authors.forename: Per-Olof
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Sandman
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D012112:Residential Facilities; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden
keywords: housing for older people; leisure activities; long-term care; nursing homes; nursing, quality of life