Comparing day care at green care farms and at regular day care facilities with regard to their effects on functional performance of community-dwelling older people with dementia

Abstract

Day care at green care farms (GCFs) is a new care modality for community-dwelling older people with dementia. In view of the more physical and normal daily life activities available at GCFs than at RDCFs, we investigated whether functional decline differed between subjects from both day care settings. In this observational cohort study, primary caregivers of 47 subjects from GCFs and 41 subjects from RDCFs rated the subjects’ functional performance three times during one year. They also provided information on the subjects’ diseases and medication use. Generally, no significant change over time in functional performance, the number of diseases and the number of medications was observed, and no differences in these rates of change were found between subjects from both day care settings. This study suggests that GCFs are not more effective in maintaining functional performance or slowing down its decline in community-dwelling older people with dementia than RDCFs.

People with dementia attending farm‐based day care in Norway – Individual and farm characteristics associated with participants’ quality of life

“…In addition, they had a higher educational level than those at regular day care (Rokstad et al, ). The observations about sex, age and living conditions are in line with a study comparing participants at regular day care and FDC in the Netherlands (de Bruin et al, ). A literature review revealed that some men prefer social involvements that support their identity and where they can feel useful (Manthorpe & Moriarty, ).…”

“…Being physical active, spending time outdoors and being in social interactions with both other people and animals are the core components of the service offered at FDC (de Bruin et al, ; Ibsen et al, ). The present study underscores the benefit of spending time outdoors, as it was associated with a better quality of life and explained the variation in the quality of life reported by the participants at the FDC level.…”

“…The mean age was lower in FDC participants compared to those in regular day care services and more of the attendees were married and lived in their own homes with their partner as their primary caregiver. Additionally, the participants were more physically active and spent more time outdoors at FDC than in regular day care (de Bruin et al, ). A recent study found that Norwegian FDCs used a wide variety of both farm environments (e.g.…”

Day care at green care farms: A novelway to stimulate dietary intake of community-dwelling older people with dementia?

“…The GCF group mainly consisted of married men who were on average younger than the subjects in the RDCF group that consisted mainly of widowed women. Although literature suggests gender, age and marital status to be related to several health outcomes (40-43), we did not detect differences in cognitive functioning, functional status and medication use between older people with dementia in both settings (44,45). It is therefore unlikely that the observed differences in dietary intake in the current study can be explained by health differences between both groups.…”

Green Care Farms

“…At the same time, however, it should be noted that the input of the PwD varied across the interviews, and that the input of family caregivers was often necessary to collect reliable and complete data. From an earlier study among PwD attending day care at a GCF or RDCF in the Netherlands, we learned that the average minimal mental state examination (MMSE) score in these groups was around 20, implying that cognitive impairment was mild to moderate (de Bruin, Oosting, Tobi, et al, 2012). Still, it was not always easy to understand their answers nor were they not always able to answer our questions.…”