Dementia care mapping: an approach to quality audit of services for people with dementia in two health districts

Abstract

The audit reported in this paper and submitted to the Psychiatry of Old Age Management group, assessed six units within each of two health districts in the UK. Using a nonparticipatory observation method in the units selected, the aim was to measure quality and the environment of care. Dependency levels of the clients/residents were also estimated to give a clearer picture of the setting and the care requirements. This was intended to establish a baseline for the units mapped and to enable care developments to be focussed upon intended outcomes. Results led to a number of observations related to the levels of interaction between staff and clients/residents, the need for a wider range of activities to promote person-centred care, and a suggested route to the improvement in quality of life for this vulnerable group of people. Assessment of dependency levels linked to the results of the mapping showed that high dependency does not lead automatically to a lower quality of person centred care.

Dementia care mapping as a research tool for measuring quality of life in care settings: psychometric properties

“…A number of papers have demonstrated the usefulness of the method in service evaluation (Brooker, 1998;Williams and Rees, 1997 ) and as an audit tool (Younger and Martin, 2000), with many anecdotal reports evaluating its value in staff training and culture change (Barnett, 1995;Packer, 1996;Lintern et al, 2000). dementia care mappingDCM AS A RESEARCH TOOL As a research tool, data so far suggest that the method has the advantage of excellent inter-rater reliability (Brooker, 1995) and good agreement with audit measures (Brooker et al, 1998) as a global assessment of quality of care.…”

Exploring the Potential for Secondary uses of Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) Data for Improving the Quality of Dementia Care

“…DCM has been used internationally as both a research tool and, more frequently, in practice development (Brooker, 2005;Younger & Martin, 2000;Cooke & Chaudhury, 2012).…”

Monitoring and improving the quality of person-centred care in health and social settings using Dementia Care Mapping (DCM): Staff experiences of implementation barriers and supports

“…Since its inception DCM has been used for a range of purposes including: at an individual level for care planning(7); at a setting level for care quality monitoring and improvement and identification of staff training and development needs (8); at an organisational level to provide an overall care quality audit (9); and as a research outcome measure for assessment of quality of care and quality of life (10).…”