title: The association between aspects of daily life and quality of life of people with dementia living in long-term care facilities: a momentary assessment study.
abstract: To improve the quality of life (QoL) of people with dementia (PwD) living in long-term care facilities, insight into the association between QoL and how people spend their daily lives is urgently needed. This study investigated which aspects of daily life are related to QoL in dementia.
  
  
  
  An observational study was conducted. Daily life was assessed with the tablet-based Maastricht Electronic Daily Life Observation-tool (MEDLO-tool). Aspects included activity, engagement in the activity, social interaction, physical effort, mood, and agitation. QoL was assessed by formal nursing caregivers using the Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease scale (QoL-AD). A total of 9,660 momentary assessments were conducted.
  
  
  
  The mean age of the 115 participants was 84 years and most (75%) were women. Bivariate analyses showed that residents with a higher QoL carried out less passive/purposeless activities (25% vs. 38%), were more engaged in active, expressive, and social activities, (40% vs. 27%), had more social interaction (34% vs. 22%), and had better mood scores (scale 1-7, 5.0 vs. 4.8), compared with residents with a lower QoL (all p-values < 0.001). Multivariate analyses showed that having more social interaction and a positive mood are related to a higher QoL.
  
  
  
  The results underline the importance of social interaction and a positive mood for a higher QoL. Future research should investigate the importance of engagement in activities in more detail.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Research,CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care,Faculty of Health,Medicine and Life Sciences,Maastricht University,Maastricht,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hanneke C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Beerens
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Research,CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care,Faculty of Health,Medicine and Life Sciences,Maastricht University,Maastricht,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: de Boer
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Research,CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care,Faculty of Health,Medicine and Life Sciences,Maastricht University,Maastricht,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sandra M G
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Zwakhalen
authors.affiliation: Department of Methodology & Statistics,CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care,Faculty of Health,Medicine and Life Sciences,Maastricht University,Maastricht,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frans E S
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Research,CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care,Faculty of Health,Medicine and Life Sciences,Maastricht University,Maastricht,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ruwaard
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Research,CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care,Faculty of Health,Medicine and Life Sciences,Maastricht University,Maastricht,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan P H
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Hamers
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Research,CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care,Faculty of Health,Medicine and Life Sciences,Maastricht University,Maastricht,the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hilde
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Verbeek
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011788:Quality of Life
keywords: dementia; long-term care; neuropsychiatric symptoms; nursing homes; quality of life