Psychological therapies and their efficacy

The effect of integrated emotion‐oriented care versus usual care on elderly persons with dementia in the nursing home and on nursing assistants: a randomized clinical trial

“…The modestly positive results of this study on residents with mild to moderate dementia justify that more systematic attention is given to the emotion-oriented care approach in psychogeriatric nursing homes than is common today. Especially because the results in the emotional domain confirm the findings of the qualitative part of the study that will be described elsewhere and also of previous studies of the effect of emotion-oriented approaches (Woods, 1996), such as validation (Toseland et al, 1997), reminiscence (Gibson, 1994) and snoezelen/sensory stimulation (Moffat et al, 1993); (Baker et al, 1997).…”

“…Little research has been done so far into the effectiveness of the emotion-oriented approaches, although experiences from practice look promising (Dröes and Van Tilburg, 1996;Kruyver and Kerkstra, 1996;Midence and Cunliffe, 1996;Woods, 1996;Day, 1997;Dröes, 1997). The American Psychiatric Association (1997) therefore advocates more scientific research into the effects of these approaches on persons with dementia.…”

A cognitive prosthesis and communication support for people with dementia

“…It can give them 'a dignity, a sense of purpose, in going back over their lives and passing on valuable information to a younger generation' (Thompson, 1978). Woods has identified several aims for this type of experience: 'Reminiscence [has] … a variety of goals, including increased communication and socialisation, and providing pleasure and entertainment' (Woods, 1999). As well as being valuable to older people in general, reminiscence can also serve as an important tool to empower older people who have dementia (Feil, 1993;Sheridan, 1992) Thus, help with reminiscence provides not only a tool to stimulate interaction, but also a contribution to improved quality of life for the person with dementia and their family.…”

Effect of combined support for people with dementia and carers versus regular day care on behaviour and mood of persons with dementia: results from a multi‐centre implementation study

“…In 1993 the Department of Psychiatry of the Vrije Universiteit medical centre (VUmc) in Amsterdam developed a comprehensive support programme, which integrated different types of support that had been proven effective in practice and/or research, such as special activity programmes, psychosocial approaches and case management for the persons with dementia (Karlsson et al, 1985;Sandman et al, 1988;Dröes, 1991;Gibson, 1994;Woods, 1996;Dröes, 1997;Toseland et al, 1997;De Lange et al, 1999;Finnema et al, 2000), and informative meetings, discussion groups and a consulting hour for their carers (Lawton et al, 1989;Cuijpers, 1992;Knight et al, 1993;VernooijDassen et al, 2000;Acton and Kang, 2001). The support programme focuses on people with mild to moderate dementia who live in the community and their carers, and, besides information, aims to give them the practical, emotional and social support they need to cope with the consequences of dementia in their life.…”