Meaningful activities

Abstract

We all need to engage in personally meaningful occupation to maintain our physical and mental health and well-being. People with dementia are no different, but need increasing assistance from others to enable their participation. Despite evidence that activity participation enhances quality of life for people with dementia by reducing challenging behaviour and depression, the quantity and quality of activity provision within care homes are often unacceptably low, especially for those with more advanced dementia. Activity provision is often viewed as the domain of specialist practitioners such as occupational therapists or dedicated activity staff, to be provided at set times, within a formal programme. However, for it to be optimally effective, it needs to be integrated into day-to-day practice by all staff. All staff need to be trained how to provide personally meaningful activity, but training alone is not enough as the manager's leadership is crucial to successfully developing an activity-based culture of care. This chapter discusses the key components to be considered when providing occupational opportunities for care home residents who have dementia. Activity provision is complex and, as such, links with the content of several of the other chapters, in particular: person-centred care, psychosocial interventions, challenging behaviour, family carers, staff training and education, quality of life and depression.