Behavioral evaluation of sensory-based activities in dementia care

ABSTRACT

To date, research on the effects of providing sensory stimulating activities (e.g., multisensory environments) with persons with dementia has been inconclusive. We evaluated the behavioral effects of an occupational therapy program of individualized sensory-based activities (SBAs), in which activities were selected based on individuals’ sensory abilities and preferences. Six participants with severe cognitive impairment (aged 68–90 years) were selected by the staff of a residential dementia facility. The effects of SBA on behaviors considered desirable or undesirable by staff were assessed by behavioral measurement, and results were compared from immediately before SBA with data collected during and after SBA sessions. The results indicate that the use of SBA had immediate effects during the activity, but limited short-term after-effects.

KEYWORDS:

• Sensory-based activities
• activity engagement
• preference
• dementia
• behavioral measurement

Acknowledgments

We thank management, staff, residents (and their families) at the Seadrome Home and Hospital, Auckland. The study was based on the thesis submitted by the first author, supervised by the second author, in fulfillment of the requirements for the MSc degree in psychology at The University of Auckland (Hensman, 2013). The data were presented in Mudford, Engstrom, and Hensman (2014) at the 7th Biannual Conference of the European Association for Behavior Analysis, Stockholm, Sweden, on 10–13 September 2014.