How Effective are Pictures in Eliciting Information from People Living with Dementia? A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Decline in language and cognitive functioning often deprives people living with moderate-to-severe dementia of self-reporting their quality of life (QoL) on the written and verbal formats of questionnaires. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of pictorial tools as an alternative method for enabling people living with dementia to self-report their QoL.

Methods

PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and EMBASE were searched. Primary research studies reporting on information elicitation from people living with dementia through pictures were deemed eligible. Six studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. Methodological quality of the studies was evaluated through Downs and Black checklist. Data was extracted according to population, intervention, comparator, and outcomes (PICO) and results were summarized and supplemented by narrative synthesis.

Results

Compared to usual communication methods, pictorial tools were found to have a superior effect on comprehension of conversations and decision-making abilities, minimal effect on preference consistency, and an undeterminable effect on discourse features.

Conclusions

There is consistent evidence that pictures enhance comprehension and might facilitate decision-making abilities.

Clinical Implications

QoL information can be elicited more effectively through pictorial tools. Future studies warrant development of pictorial versions of standardized QoL tools which will assist the inclusion of people living with severe dementia.

KEYWORDS:

• Dementia
• quality of life
• visual communication
• pictorial tools

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials. The supplementary materials can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19840087

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07317115.2022.2085643

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Boosting Dementia Research Leadership Fellowships awarded to Tracy Comans (GNT 1136820) and Nadeeka Dissanayaka and an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship awarded to Muhammad Haroon.