Involving institutionalized people with dementia in their care-planning meetings: Impact on their quality of life measured by a proxy method: Innovative Practice

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess the impact of an intervention in which people with dementia attended meetings to discuss their individual care plans on their quality of life. Fifty-two older people (M = 86.7 years, SD = 7.3) diagnosed with moderate-to-severe dementia living in four nursing homes in Spain participated in the study. The intervention was implemented with 27 residents at two of the nursing homes; the other 25 cases at the other two homes acted as controls. A proxy measure of quality of life was used. Improvements were found in quality of life as assessed by staff members, in both within and between-group comparisons, which suggests that including older people with dementia in care-planning meetings may improve their quality of life. However, further controlled studies are needed to confirm these preliminary results.