Dementia care and the use of multisensory environments in hospital
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of the potential utility and effectiveness of a multisensory intervention on an acute medical ward for people with dementia.
IRAS ID
212358
Contact name
Lyndsey Rickman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 28 days
Research summary
An exploration into the potential utility and effectiveness of a Multisensory Stimulation intervention on an acute medical ward for people with dementia.
Multisensory Stimulation (MSS) involves providing a variety of equipment such as tactile objects, lights, music and aromas to stimulate the five primary senses, without placing intellectual demands on individuals.
This therapy is effective in promoting wellbeing, improving nurse-patient relationships and reducing some agitated behaviours. However, investigating implementation in an acute hospital has been overlooked.
The use of MSS in hospitals has potential benefits such as: reduced burden for staff and carers and a more positive experience with improved outcomes for people with dementia. However, without investigating implementation and impact, hospitals cannot implement effectively or maximise the therapy’s clinical potential.
The objective of this research is to (1) determine the feasibility of acute care nursing staff using MSS for people with dementia (2) identify barriers and facilitators to staff use of this intervention (3) pilot the use of the observational tool, Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) to measure patient wellbeing for a future evaluation of multisensory interventions in acute care.
The research will be conducted at The University Hospital Southampton, where a multisensory room is situated. Funding will be provided by The University Hospital Southampton Trust and sponsored by The University of Southampton.
This mixed methods study will:
(a) Recruit across the multidisciplinary team (including management) to participate in semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Duration: one hour – to be recorded on a dictaphone and transcribed later by the researcher.
(b) Recruit patients, diagnosed with dementia to participate in structured observations using DCM. Patients will be observed by the researcher for two, four hour periods on consecutive days. The researcher will observe mood/engagement levels, behaviours and their staff interactions. This will provide quantitative and qualitative data on wellbeing/illbeing experienced from the patient’s perspective.REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SC/0529
Date of REC Opinion
22 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion