Weekly Social Hour is all you Need to Help Dementia Patients

• Person-centred activities combined with just one hour a week of social interaction will be very helpful for people with dementia living in care homes
• This trial was conducted with more than 800 participants living with dementia across 69 care homes in South London, North London and Buckingham-shire
• Also, this particular approach saved money in comparison with the standard care

Washington DC, July 17, 2017: According to a recent survey, quality of life can be improved and agitation can be reduced, while saving money, for people with dementia living in care homes with the help of person-centred activities combined with just one hour a week of social interaction.

The University of Exeter, King's College London and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust led the findings from a large-scale trial that were presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2017 (AAIC).

This trial was conducted with more than 800 participants living with dementia across 69 care homes in South London, North London and Buckingham-shire. The study involved two 'care staff champions' at each home who were trained over four day-long sessions, to take simple measures that such as involve talking to residents about their interests and decisions around their own care. When combined with just one hour a week of social interaction, it improved quality of life and reduced agitation.

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Also, this particular approach saved money in comparison with the standard care. Researchers believe that the next key challenge is to roll the programme to the 28,000 care homes in the UK that will benefit the lives of the 300,000 people with dementia living in these facilities.

According to ANI report, the lead researcher in the project, Clive Ballard said that people with dementia who are living in care homes can be considered among the most vulnerable in our society. "Incredibly, of 170 carer training manuals available on the market, only four are based on evidence that they really work. Our outcomes show that good staff training and just one hour a week of social interaction significantly improves quality of life for a group of people who can often be forgotten by society," she added.

Doug Brown, Director of Research for Alzheimer's Society, feels that 70% of people living in care homes suffer from dementia. That is why it is necessary for the staff to have the right training to provide the best quality dementia care.

– prepared by Durba Mandal of NewsGram. Twitter @dubumerang