Activities contributing to quality of life of nursing home residents with dementia: a survey study

Aims

To explore which activities are offered to nursing home residents with dementia, what their expected contribution to quality of life is, and who chooses and offers these activities.

Design

A cross-sectional survey.

Methods

Healthcare professionals, informal caregivers, and volunteers of nursing home residents with dementia were invited to participate via the nationwide networks of the Dutch Alzheimer Association, the six Dutch academic networks in care for older people, Alzheimer cafes, and the personal (social media) networks of the researchers in September/October 2021. Participants received a survey via e-mail, which included items about which activities are offered to nursing home residents with dementia, whether participants expected the activities to contribute to residents’ quality of life, and by whom the activities were offered. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data.

Results

In total, 129 activities were mentioned. The top five most mentioned activities were live music and concerts (n=144), walking (n=141), listening to music (n=133), celebrating national holidays (n=129), and talking about memories (n=125). A median proportion of 90% (IQR 75-97) of all activities was expected to contribute to the residents’ quality of life. Activities were offered by healthcare professionals, informal caregivers, and volunteers.

Conclusion

Many different activities are being offered to nursing home residents with dementia, but there is a discrepancy between activities that were expected to contribute to quality of life and activities that were offered most frequently. Hence, residents may benefit from improved tailoring of activities based on their expected contribution to quality of life. Further research into the facilitators and barriers to offering tailored activities in collaboration with caregivers is necessary to unravel why and how tailoring of activities should and can be improved.

What is already known

• Activities contribute to the quality of life of nursing home residents with dementia

• Besides intervention programs, information about which activities are currently offered in nursing homes, and by whom, is unknown

What this paper adds

• More than 129 activities are offered in Dutch nursing homes by both healthcare professionals, informal caregivers, and volunteers

• 90% of all activities was expected to contribute to the residents’ QoL

• Healthcare professionals, informal caregivers, and volunteers differ in their expectation of which activities contribute to the quality of life of residents with dementia