How to stop the new Alzheimer's problem?
5 years ago
Susan Berg expert Activities Director shares activity ideas, especially for those with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.The emphasis is on mind stimulating activities. Also discussed are excellent activity resources
'The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between environmental characteristics and apathy in long-term care residents with dementia. My interest in apathy was mainly driven by my clinical observations in nursing homes when I was a nurse practitioner student. I remember that no matter which nursing home I visited, I often saw a crowd of residents sitting in the living room or hallway with no interest in the surroundings and no emotional expression.'
'Interestingly, our results showed that clear and , dementia viewsstrong environmental stimulation is related to lower apathy, while no stimulation or an overwhelming environment with no single clear stimulation is related to higher apathy.'Jao plans to continue this research by replicating the study with a larger sample size and by looking more closely at the quality of interaction and communication between nursing home residents and their caregivers.
'One of the innovative features of this study is that we used the Person-Environment Apathy Rating scale to measure environmental stimulation at an individual level. I believe that the same stimulation may be perceived differently or bring about different responses for different individuals in the same environment based on the individual's characteristics, interests and relevance to the stimulation. In fact, a stimulus may be clear to one person but unclear to another because of differences in hearing or visual abilities, especially in older adults.'
'One of the most important implications of these findings is that they will guide us in designing appropriate physical and social environments for dementia care that helps prevent or decrease apathy. We need more people to care about apathy for older adults with dementia.'