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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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What is meaningful activity for people with dementia living in care homes?
— a comparison of the views of older people with dementia, staff and family carers | | Author(s) | Barbara J Harmer, Martin Orrell |
| Journal title | Aging & Mental Health, vol 12, no 5, September 2008 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis, September 2008 |
| Pages | pp 548-558 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Activities of older people ; Recreation ; Occupational therapy ; Care homes ; Attitude ; Dementia ; Family care ; Care home staff ; Qualitative Studies ; London. |
| Annotation | Older people with dementia living in care homes often lack appropriate activities. Although homes are expected to offer a range of activities to meet residents' needs, little is known about what makes activities meaningful for people with dementia. This qualitative study used focus groups including 17 residents, 13 staff and 8 family carers from three care homes in outer London to explore how these groups define concepts of meaningful activity. Transcripts of the groups were subjected to thematic content analysis using a grounded theory approach. Four activity themes emerged: reminiscence; family and social; musical; and individual. There were also two related themes: lack of meaningful activity; and what makes activity meaningful. Residents found meaning in activities that addressed their psychological and social needs, which related to the quality of the experience of an activity rather than specific types of activities. In contrast, staff and family carers viewed activities that maintained physical abilities as meaningful. People with dementia, staff and family carers had differing views about what made activities meaningful. Organisational limitations and social beliefs limited the provision of meaningful activities for this population. The study also indicates areas for improving activity provision in care homes. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-081124231 A |
| Classmark | G: H: LOH: KW: DP: EA: P6:SJ: QRM: 3DP: 82L |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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