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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Colour consultation with dementia home residents and staff | | Author(s) | Beatrice Godwin |
| Journal title | Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, vol 15 no 2, 2014 |
| Publisher | Emerald, 2014 |
| Pages | pp 102-119 |
| Source | www.emeraldinsight.com/qaoa.htm |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Residents [care homes] ; Care home staff ; Participation ; Social inclusion ; Methodology. |
| Annotation | Government guidelines promote service user consultation without providing extensive advice on people in later dementia. "Seen as too difficult to involve, they are effectively excluded from ... influenc(ing) service provision", especially institutional care residents (L Clare and S Cox, 2003, Disability & Society, Vol 18, no 7, p 936), this hard-to-reach group presents methodological challenges. This paper explores innovative approaches, offering even those with fragmented or lost speech the opportunity to contribute to decisions about their care. This specialist dementia home consultation included staff and every resident, irrespective of the level of their communication impairment. Consultation on potential colour schemes took the form of a ballot. Staff helped develop an unpatronising, person-centred approach. Visual aids supported communication, de-emphasising the spoken word and promoting inclusion. The majority of residents appeared to express an opinion on the potential decor. Others chose a colour, while not necessarily grasping the context. The approach engaged all except four. Even people with moderate to advanced dementia may be enabled to participate in consultation. Further research needs to refine methodology to include everyone and clarify the interpretation of results. This example of consultation is important to researchers and practitioners, because it explores ways of communicating, which avoid privileging the spoken word, revealing seldom-recognised abilities in people with moderate to advanced dementia. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-170526223 A |
| Classmark | EA: KX: QRM: TMB: RNA: 3D |
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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