Discussions with dementia patients improves quality of life

A new study has revealed that one-to-one interaction and daily discussion with people with dementia can help improve their quality of life and significantly reduce anger and agitation.

Published in PLOS Medicine, the study analysed over 800 people with dementia in 69 care homes in England over a nine-month period. By adopting a more personalised approach to care, incorporating just an hour a week of social interaction, the study found improvements in quality of life, agitation, and neuropsychiatric symptoms, with the greatest benefits for people with moderately severe dementia.

Carried out by the University of Exeter, researchers say the next key challenge is to roll the programme to the 28,000 care homes in the UK to benefit the lives of the 300,000 people with dementia living in these facilities.

Professor Clive Ballard, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said: “While many care homes are excellent, standards still vary hugely. We have previously found that the average amount of social interaction for people with dementia was just two minutes a day. It’s hardly surprising when that has a knock-on effect on quality of life and agitation.

“Our approach improves care and saves money. We must roll out approaches that work to do justice to some of the most vulnerable people in society. Incredibly, of 170 carer training manuals available on the market, only four are based on evidence that they really work. That is simply not good enough – it has to change.”