A comparison of quality of life indicators during two complementary interventions: adaptive gardening and adaptive riding for people with dementia

Dementia care partners’ reported outcomes after adaptive riding: a theoretical thematic analysis

“…The theme, well-being, confirms previous research of RM™ that documented positive emotional experiences during actual participation in the program (Fields et al , 2018, 2019; Lassell et al , 2021). The findings from this study broaden understandings beyond previous research with the perspectives of care partners.…”

“…While this outcome was reserved to only one participant with vascular dementia, the care partner credited the active participation of RM™ on the favorable influence of the participant’s cognitive function. Notably, this person living with dementia held the highest cognitive score in the sample prior to RM™ (Lassell et al , 2021). Therefore, this finding should be interpreted with caution as cognition can fluctuate for persons living with dementia over several weeks (Matar et al , 2020).…”

“…Because the first author explored care partners’ perceived outcomes of RM™, she began with the start codes of emotional well-being, cognitive and communication abilities, physical abilities and frequency of activity participation. These start codes were based on previously reported outcomes from existing research (Fields et al , 2019; Lassell et al , 2021). Moreover, prior RM™ literature aligns with Zgola’s (1999) meaningful activity (Fields, 2017) and is congruent with the PERMA theory of well-being (Seligman, 2011), which informed the first author’s interpretation of the data.…”

“…Adaptive riding is a non-therapy service where skilled instructors and equine specialists adapt riding and other horsemanship activities to make their natural healthful benefits available to individuals and groups with diverse needs (Wood et al , 2021). Studies have demonstrated the safety, acceptability and proof of concept of RM™ for improving the quality of life (including well-being) of persons living with dementia residing in long-term care (Fields et al , 2019; Lassell et al , 2021). Most recently, Lassell and colleagues (2021) piloted a nature-comparison condition with a community-dwelling population and invited their care partners to participate; they found RM™ supported emotional well-being and significantly longer durations of complex participation than adaptive gardening.…”

Assessing Momentary Well-Being in People Living With Dementia: A Systematic Review of Observational Instruments

“…Sensitivity to detect statistically significant changes were demonstrated for FACS/EMFACS (in people with mild to moderate dementia; Seidl et al, 2012 ; but not for people with severe dementia; Asplund et al, 1995 ), MAX ( Magai et al, 1996 ), OERS (when aggregating positive and negative affect; Hammar et al, 2011 ; except anger; Lawton et al, 1999 ), AER ( Snyder et al, 2001 ), ODAS (for two of three subscales, Beck et al, 2002 , or when aggregating scores to positive and negative affect; Lee et al, 2013 , 2014 , 2017 ), DCM 8 ( Brooker, 2005 ), PRS ( Hadley et al, 1999 ; Schall et al, 2015 ), ACT ( Wood et al, 2005 ; Lassell et al, 2021 ), GCWBT (positive items only, Kinney and Rentz, 2005 ) and SC-GWBT ( Sauer et al, 2016 ; Lokon et al, 2019 ), AwareCare ( Clare et al, 2012 , 2014 ), BEAM (for “happiness” and “agitation”, Low et al, 2014 ), MEDLO-tool (“mood”; Beerens et al, 2016 , 2018 ), MPES ( Lee et al, 2007 ), OME ( Cohen-Mansfield et al, 2011 , 2012 ), MiDAS ( Garrido et al, 2020 ) and EPWDS ( Feng et al, 2020 ).…”