PERSONALLY TAILORED ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING PSYCHOSOCIAL OUTCOMES FOR PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA IN COMMUNITY SETTINGS

27 AUGUST 2020 - People with dementia living in the community, that is in their own homes, are often not engaged in meaningful activities. Activities tailored to their individual interests and preferences might be one approach to improve quality of life and reduce challenging behaviour.

Offering personally tailored activities may improve challenging behaviour and slightly improve quality of life of people with dementia living in their own homes, but may have little or no effect on depression, affect, passivity, and engagement (being involved in what is happening around them) of people with dementia. Personally tailored activities may slightly improve caregivers’ distress, but may have little or no effect on caregiver burden, quality of life, and depression. No study looked for harmful effects and no study described that any harmful effects occurred. We concluded that offering activity sessions to people with mild to moderate dementia living in their own homes may help to manage challenging behaviour and may slightly improve their quality of life.

Full citation: Institute for Evidence in Medicine (for Cochrane Germany Foundation), Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Breisacher Str. 153, Freiburg, Germany, 79110. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009812.pub2

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