Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T07:32:37.874Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Stimulation-Retreat Special Care Unit for Elders With Dementing Illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2005

M. Powell Lawton
Affiliation:
Polisher Research Institute of Philadelphia Geriatric Center and Temple University Health Sciences Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Kimberly Van Haitsma
Affiliation:
Polisher Research Institute of Philadelphia Geriatric Center and Temple University Health Sciences Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Jennifer Klapper
Affiliation:
Polisher Research Institute of Philadelphia Geriatric Center and Temple University Health Sciences Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Morton H. Kleban
Affiliation:
Polisher Research Institute of Philadelphia Geriatric Center and Temple University Health Sciences Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Ira R. Katz
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Julie Corn
Affiliation:
Polisher Research Institute of Philadelphia Geriatric Center and Temple University Health Sciences Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Abstract

Two equivalent special care nursing home units for elders with dementing illness were randomly designated as experimental and control units for an intervention called the “stimulation-retreat” model. This model introduced a set of staffing and program changes whose purpose was to diagnose, prescribe, and apply a package of care according to individual needs for additional stimulation or relief from stimulation (“retreat”). A total of 49 experimental and 48 control unit residents completed 12 months of care and were evaluated at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. It was hypothesized that the intervention would not affect the basic disability (cognitive and activities of daily living functions), would improve negative behaviors and observed affects, and would have maximum impact in increasing positive behaviors and affects. Over time, most functions worsened, including negative attributes and affects. Lesser decline in positive affect and increases in external engagement, however, led to the conclusion that the intervention showed a marginally significant and selective effect on positive behaviors and affect.

Type
Caregiving
Copyright
© 1998 International Psychogeriatric Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)