A pilot study of an intergenerational program for people in residential aged care with cognitive impairment and children from a co-located early learning centre during COVID-19.

Intergenerational programs in residential aged care may improve well-being and combat loneliness and social isolation in older people with cognitive impairment. This pilot study investigated the effects of a semi-structured intergenerational group, including children from a co-located early learning centre and people living in residential aged care with cognitive impairment. This 9-week study used a mixed methods pre- and post-program design. Sessions were designed and delivered once per week by Occupational Therapists and took into account residents' interests and children's developmental needs and interests, identified in pre-program interviews. Nine older people with cognitive impairment and 13 children participated. The program was well attended despite disruptions and complications caused by COVID-19 and weather conditions. Older people valued the opportunity to engage with the children. Children were observed to gain confidence in communicating and forming friendships with older people with different levels of ability. There did not appear to be any change in loneliness or neuropsychiatric symptoms. The intergenerational program benefited participants and received strong support from family members and staff of the early learning centre and aged care home.

What have staff got to do with it? Untangling complex relationships between residential aged care staff, the quality of care they provide, and the quality of life of people with dementia.

BACKGROUND: Despite the integral role residential care staff play in the lives of residents with dementia, the mechanisms for supporting staff to bring about good quality of care (QOC) and quality of life (QOL) are poorly understood. This study focused on establishing the key mechanisms to improve QOC and in turn QOL of residents with dementia. METHOD: Over a 10-month period we followed: 247 older adults with dementia from 12 not-for-profit residential care facilities, their families/care partners (n=225), managers (n=12) and staff (n=232). Facilities ranged in size from 10 to 137 beds, located across remote, rural and metropolitan areas of NSW/ACT. Measures included: staff surveys, family member and resident interviews, resident file audits, live resident and staff observations and organisational audits. Multilevel Modelling or Generalised Estimating Equations analyses were conducted for each of the 12 QOC variables, with 22 staff and control variables as the predictors, and for each of the 11 QOL variables, with 20 QOC and control variables as predictors. RESULTS: Analyses established significant associations between a large number of staff and QOC variables and between QOC and QOL variables. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of the care provided to residents has strong, widespread influences on the QOL of residents. The most promising areas for intervening with staff were: increasing the relevance and applicability of staff training and qualifications, upskilling staff in empathic care provision, communication, and restraint reduction, using a mixture of permanent and rotating shifts, prioritising recreational activity provision by all staff and increasing assistance with meals.

Volunteer Programs Supporting People With Dementia/Delirium in Hospital: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Volunteer-delivered programs to assist people with dementia and/or delirium in-hospital can provide person-centered one-on-one support in addition to usual care. These programs could mitigate hospital resource demands; however, their effectiveness is unknown. This review evaluated literature of volunteer programs in acute hospital settings for people living with dementia and/or delirium. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Four databases were searched. Studies that reported patient or program outcomes were included (i.e., delirium incidence, length of stay, number of falls, satisfaction). Risk of bias was completed. Meta-analysis was performed where 2 or more studies measured the same outcome. Narrative synthesis was performed on the qualitative results. RESULTS: Eleven studies were included in the review, with varied design, participant groups and outcomes measured. Risk of bias averaged 71%. Volunteer-delivered programs addressed delirium risk factors, for example, hydration/nutrition, mobility, use of sensory aids. Eight patients and 6 program outcomes were captured, but only 3 patient outcomes could be pooled. Meta-analyses demonstrated a reduction in delirium incidence (rate ratio = 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.47, 0.90) but no reduction in length of stay (mean difference -1.09; 95% CI -0.58, 2.77) or number of falls (rate ratio = 0.67; 95% CI 0.19, 2.35). Narrative synthesis identified benefits to patients (e.g., less loneliness), volunteers (sense of meaning), and staff (timesaving, safety). DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Volunteer-delivered programs for inpatients with dementia and/or delirium may provide benefits for patients, volunteers, and staff. However, studies conducted with more robust designs are required to determine overall effectiveness on program outcomes. Further high-quality research appropriate for this vulnerable population is required to identify volunteer program effectiveness.

Why we need to care about the care: A longitudinal study linking the quality of residential dementia care to residents' quality of life.

BACKGROUND: Residential dementia care staff are often the most important people in a resident's social world. It is a symbiotic relationship and the work can involve highly emotional interactions as well as physical and technical demands. This study focused on narrowing down the most useful targets for intervention in quality of care (QOC) in order to improve quality of life (QOL) for people with dementia in residential care. METHOD: Over six months we followed: 247 older adults with dementia from 12 residential care facilities, their families/care partners (n = 225), managers (n = 12) and staff (n = 232). Facilities ranged from 10 to 137 beds, located across remote, rural and metropolitan areas. MEASURES: Staff surveys, family member and resident interviews, resident file audits, live resident and staff observations and organisational audits. RESULTS: The QOC provided had an immediate impact on resident's pain, depression, QOL scale score, Body Mass Index, ease/engagement with staff, and food and fluid intake. This influence was still evident six months later, with baseline QOC leading to improved ease and engagement with staff, QOL scores, and fluid intake. Restraint use featured heavily as a predictor of poor outcomes for residents. QOC did not significantly impact agitated behaviours, frailty, nor physical/verbal expressions of well-being. CONCLUSIONS: What staff do and the way they do it has a real and lasting impact on the QOL of residents. The most useful targets for improving QOL are: eradicating physical restraint and supporting and upskilling care staff so that they treat and interact empathetically and humanely with residents.

The Volunteer Dementia and Delirium Care (VDDC)©: A pre-implementation study exploring perceived acceptability to implementing the program in an acute and subacute metropolitan hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the perceived acceptability of the Volunteer Dementia and Delirium Care (VDDC)© program components from the perspective of key stakeholders in a metropolitan health network. METHODS: A mixed-methods design was used. Surveys (nurses) and focus groups and interviews (hospital staff, volunteers, patients and caregivers) were conducted simultaneously. Descriptive statistics were used to profile the survey responses. The framework method was used to analyse the qualitative data. RESULTS: The majority of nurses identified that it is acceptable for volunteers to read to, and converse and play games with patients. Hospital staff perceived risk in volunteers assisting with feeding and mobilisation. Overall participants believed the VDDC was acceptable and would be of benefit to the patients. CONCLUSION: Key stakeholders have a favourable view of the VDDC© program. Strategies can be developed to address the identified issues, and components of the program may be amended to ensure that implementation is acceptable.

The Volunteer Dementia and Delirium Care (VDDC)© program: An exploration of perceived barriers and enablers to implementation in an acute and subacute metropolitan hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the perceived barriers and enablers to the implementation of the Volunteer Dementia and Delirium© program from the perspective of key stakeholders in a metropolitan hospital network. METHODS: Focus groups and interviews with hospital staff, volunteers, patients and caregivers. Deductive analysis was conducted for the Behaviour Change Wheel (COM-B) domains, and inductive thematic analysis for emerging themes. RESULTS: Utilising the skills and knowledge of volunteers, making the program available to all patients, and recognising that volunteers will improve the care experience for patients were identified as enablers. Threats to volunteer safety, difficulty in defining roles and responsibilities of volunteers, volunteer attrition and availability and supervision of volunteers were perceived as barriers to implementation. CONCLUSION: To enhance the implementation of the program into a metropolitan setting, strategies addressing the identified barriers and enablers need to be developed.

"They take a lot of pressure off us": Volunteers reducing staff and family care burden and contributing to quality of care for older patients with cognitive impairment in rural hospitals.

OBJECTIVES: 1Explore the ability of trained volunteers to provide person-centred care focusing on nutrition/hydration support, hearing/visual aids and activities in rural hospitals for older patients with dementia and/or delirium. 2Explore the impacts and challenges of volunteer care for family carers and hospital staff. METHODS: Staff were surveyed about their confidence, stress and satisfaction at 6 months post-implementation. Focus groups with staff and interviews with families explored program successes, challenges and enabling factors. RESULTS: Volunteers integrated themselves into the care team, providing person-centred care, increased safety and quality of care for patients and a reduced burden for staff and families. Key enablers were clear processes for screening, training and supporting volunteers. Key challenges included initial role delineation, staff/volunteer trust and sustainability. CONCLUSION: The program is reported by families and staff as being effective in addressing the main barriers to providing person-centred care for older adults with cognitive impairment in rural acute hospitals.

The "Golden Angels": effects of trained volunteers on specialling and readmission rates for people with dementia and delirium in rural hospitals.

ABSTRACTObjectives:Evaluate the clinical outcomes for patients with dementia, delirium, or at risk for delirium supported by the person-centered volunteer program in rural acute hospitals. DESIGN: A non-randomized, controlled trial. PARTICIPANTS: Older adults admitted to seven acute hospitals in rural Australia. Intervention (n = 270) patients were >65 years with a diagnosis of dementia or delirium or had risk factors for delirium and received volunteer services. Control (n = 188) patients were admitted to the same hospital 12 months prior to the volunteer program and would have met eligibility criteria for the volunteer program, had it existed. INTERVENTION: Trained volunteers provided 1:1 person-centered care with a focus on nutrition and hydration support, hearing and visual aids, activities, and orientation. MEASURES: Medical record audits provided data on volunteer visits, diagnoses, length of stay (LOS), behavioral incidents, readmission, specialling, mortality, admission to residential care, falls, pressure ulcers, and medication use. RESULTS: Across all sites, there was a significant reduction in rates of 1:1 specialling and 28 day readmission for patients receiving the volunteer intervention. LOS was significantly shorter for the control group. There were no differences in other patient outcomes for the intervention and control groups. CONCLUSION: The volunteer intervention is a safe, effective, and replicable way to support older acute patients with dementia, delirium, or risk factors for delirium in rural hospitals. Further papers will report on cost effectiveness, family carer, volunteer, and staff experiences of the program.

Help-seeking intentions for anxiety among older adults.

Mental health practices are not working for older people with anxiety in residential care, as there is a persistent lack of recognition and treatment. This suggests that alternative ways of reaching and meeting the needs of this population need to be explored. One possibility involves enabling older adults themselves to seek help. The current work explored various factors impacting on help-seeking behaviours. In total, 105 participants from independent living units in a residential care setting completed a questionnaire focusing on attitudes and stigma towards anxiety, likelihood to seek help, help-seeking barriers and literacy around the symptoms of anxiety. Participants in the main did not hold negative attitudes towards other people with anxiety, despite concerns that other people could view them negatively if they were experiencing anxiety. Barriers to help-seeking included: difficulties recognising physical anxiety symptoms as being indicative of anxiety; the effectiveness of treatments; costs; misdiagnosis; privacy; medication usage and the associated side-effects; and, uneasiness about the skills and knowledge of health professionals. Although concerns were not held by all participants, the fact remains that anxiety is largely undiagnosed and untreated for this population and these stoppages to appropriate care must be addressed.

Do interventions with staff in long-term residential facilities improve quality of care or quality for life people with dementia? A systematic review of the evidence.

BACKGROUND: Common sense suggests and research indicates relationships between staff factors in residential dementia care and quality of life (QOL) for residents, with poor care increasing suffering. However, we do not have a coherent picture of which staff interventions have an impact on quality of care (QOC) or resident QOL. METHODS: A comprehensive search of 20 years' peer-reviewed literature using Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, PubMed, CINAHL, and the Cochrane, Campbell Collaboration identified 4,760 studies meriting full text review. Forty-six met the inclusion criteria, namely interventions in long-term facilities helping staff develop their capacity to provide better care and/or QOL for residents with dementia. Thirty-five other papers comprised an associated predictor review. RESULTS: Conclusions from these limited data are further compromised because nine studies failed to measure effects on residents and only half assessed effects after the project team withdrew. Of these, excellent studies produced change over the medium (3-4 months) or longer term, including reduction in challenging behavior and restraint use but this applied only to a minority. A number of studies failed to measure effects on QOC, limiting conclusions about mechanisms underlying change. CONCLUSION: In general, level of intervention required depended on the target. For outcomes like restraint use, structured education sessions with some support appear adequate. Programs to reduce pain require more support. For complicated issues like challenging behavior and increasing co-operation in showering, detailed, supportive, on-site interventions are required. Improvements in restraint and staff/resident interactions were the most promising findings. (Review registration number: PROSPERO 2014:CRD42014015224).

How do staff influence the quality of long-term dementia care and the lives of residents? A systematic review of the evidence.

BACKGROUND: Research suggests and common sense indicates that there are relationships between staff variables in residential dementia care and the quality of life (QOL) of residents, with poor care due to staff factors increasing resident suffering. Despite these indications, we do not have a coherent picture of these relationships, which variables are important, and where to intervene in order to minimize suffering for people with dementia. METHODS: This systematic review examined associations between staff variables, quality of care (QOC), and QOL for residents, using published peer-reviewed literature from the last 20 years. A comprehensive search was conducted using an exhaustive list of search terms, leading to the identification of 33,204 unique papers, which was reduced to 35 on-topic papers. RESULTS: In the main, we were able to provide collective evidence to suggest there are relationships between potentially adjustable staff variables and QOC on to QOL. When staff treat and interact empathetically and humanely in care, there is a relationship with better mood for residents, delayed functional dependence and better food intake. Where staff are more skilled and educated, there is less psychotropic medication use. Unlimited empathy about the risk of residents falling or being in pain is not enough; staff need to know about the dangers of restraint. CONCLUSIONS: Confidence in these indicative links is weakened by a lack of high-quality prospective longitudinal studies focusing on potentially adjustable staff variables, with a bias towards cross-sectional studies including only variables that are fixed or unlikely to change. (Review registration no. PROSPERO 2014:CRD42014015224).

Development and effectiveness of an integrated inpatient and community service for challenging behaviour in late life: From Confused and Disturbed Elderly to Transitional Behavioural Assessment and Intervention Service.

A common method of managing challenging behaviour associated with dementia is long-stay special care units, though models are very diverse. In New South Wales, Australia, the five remaining state-run long-stay special care units for this population were funded to adopt a shorter-term model which had been trialled by one of the units. Transitional Behavioural Assessment and Intervention Service Units, incorporating an integrated outreach team, were to provide multi-disciplinary assessments, develop individualised bio-psychosocial management plans for, and appropriately discharge people with significant levels of Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms in Dementia. The current study assessed both the effects of the change and the clinical effectiveness of the model. METHOD: A repeated measures design, supplemented by multiple one-time measures. A range of standard instruments were administered, patient data from other types of inpatient units were obtained, interviews conducted, and medical records examined. RESULTS: Transitional Behaviour Assessment and Intervention Service units were admitting patients with dementia and a variety of significant challenging behaviours. Length of stay was shortened in all units, patients turnover greatly increased, and there was a low re-admission rate. The model was substantially cheaper than psychiatric care in two units where it was fully implemented; one unit cost the same as psychiatric care, and two units were not cost-effective because of low occupancy - related to not fully implementing the model. Referring facilities reported that in the absence of the units, their main strategy would have been to increase sedation. In the Transitional Behavioural Assessment and Intervention Service units, behavioural incidents were primarily managed through psychosocial means. It is not known whether behaviour is reduced over time, staff become better at managing the behaviour when it occurs, or both. CONCLUSION: The evaluation showed that the model can be transferred to other units and is a cost-effective way of assessing, managing, and successfully discharging people with complex challenging behaviours, though only when fully implemented.

An art gallery access programme for people with dementia: 'you do it for the moment'.

OBJECTIVES: People with dementia often have decreased opportunities to engage in higher level intellectual or sensory activities. This programme investigated the effect of taking people with dementia to discuss artworks at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). METHOD: Fifteen people from the community and eight from residential care attended the gallery once a week for 6 weeks. They discussed artworks with NGA Educators trained in dementia skills. Sessions were filmed and the level of engagement analysed using time sampling methods. Focus groups with participants, carers, and educators provided qualitative data. RESULTS: Participants were engaged from the outset and remained engaged. They became animated, gained confidence and were able to discuss and interact with the artworks and the social process. This included the more impaired RACF groups, who were more withdrawn or behaviourally disturbed in their usual environment, raising the concept of excess disability. In focus groups these participants had impoverished memory for the programme but community participants remembered it with pleasure and wanted it to continue. Carers confirmed these sentiments but reported no lasting change in participants. Educators spoke mostly about what they had learned, including new ways to present to other clients. CONCLUSION: The programme went beyond many dementia activities. Despite no evidence for lasting effects, all involved wanted the programme to continue. A carer quote: You do it for the moment encapsulates a sense that an activity is worthwhile even if it gives benefit only whilst running. The programme is continuing and expanding.