Does a Structured Gardening Programme Improve Well-Being in Young-Onset Dementia? A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Introduction: Young-onset dementia affects about 1 in 1500 people aged under 65 years in the United Kingdom (UK). It is associated with loss of employment, independence and an increase in psychological distress. This project set out to identify the benefits of a 2 hours per week structured activity programme of gardening for people with young-onset dementia. Method: A mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) study of therapeutic gardening for people with young-onset dementia, measuring outcomes for both participants with young-onset dementia and their carers, was used. Twelve participants were recruited from a county-wide mental health service for older adults, based on onset of dementia being before the age of 65 years (range 43–65 years). Of these, two participants dropped out and one died during the project. Measures included the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Bradford Well-Being Profile, Large Allen Cognitive Level Screen (LACLS) and Pool Activity Level (PAL). Findings: Over a 1-year period the carers of the people with young-onset dementia found that the project had given participants a renewed sense of purpose and increased well-being, despite cognitive functioning continuing to decline during this period. Conclusion: This study suggests that a meaningful guided activity programme can maintain or improve well-being in the presence of cognitive deterioration.

Age-appropriate services for people diagnosed with young onset dementia (YOD): a systematic review

“…Twenty articles were included, 10 of which were primary studies (Beattie, DakerWhite, Gilliard, & Means, 2004;Carone, Tischler, & Dening, 2016;Hewitt, Watts, Hussey, Power, & Williams, 2013;Kelly & Innes, 2016;Kinney, Kart, & Reddecliff, 2011;O'Connell et al, 2014;Parahoo, Campbell, & Scoltock, 2002;Perkins & Poynton, 1990;Reed, Cantley, Clarke, & Stanley, 2002;Robertson & Evans, 2015). Ten were descriptive accounts of interventions (Barker & Johnson, 2008;Chaston, Pollard, & Jubb, 2004;Craig & Strivens, 2016;Davies-Quarrell et al, 2010;LaFontaine, 2004;Parkes & Ward, 2015;Ramluggun & Ogo, 2016;J.…”

“…NHS Trusts liaised with a range of agencies that offer social, financial and practical dementia support ranging from occupational therapy and buddy systems to bus passes and worked with local and district councils, job centres and debt recovery services to offer help with legal issues and financial guardianship (Ramluggun & Ogo, 2016). They also partnered with a Local Citizen's Bureau (Wheeler et al, 2015), worked with local agencies and the Alzheimer's Society (Parkes & Ward, 2015), offered a therapeutic support group for women (Barker & Johnson, 2008), or offered their NHS Trust hospital garden for gardening programmes (Hewitt et al, 2013). Local Councils in Scotland liaised with the Alzheimer's Society and Health and Community Health Partnerships to offer YODspecific services (Kelly & Innes, 2016).…”

“…Partnerships between Local Councils, community-based organisations and agencies such as the Alzheimer's Society required referrals from health and social care professionals (Kelly & Innes, 2016), local clinics (O'Connell et al, 2014) or local dementia services (Hewitt et al, 2013). Referrals to community-based services were made primarily via non-statutory, third-sector agencies such as the Alzheimer's Society (Carone et al, 2016;Davies-Quarrell et al, 2010;Kelly & Innes, 2016;Kinney et al, 2011;LaFontaine, 2004;Parahoo et al, 2002;Parkes & Ward, 2015) and local dementia services (Hewitt et al, 2013). On-line support groups (Craig & Strivens, 2016) and local projects run by volunteers (Chaston et al, 2004;Jacinta Robertson & Evans, 2015) were publicised via leaflets and word of mouth.…”

“…Day centres provided activities facilitated by trained staff for a number of hours per week (Beattie et al, 2004), whilst domiciliary respite services were designed to support caregivers, enabling families to keep people living with YOD in their own homes for longer (Parahoo et al, 2002). Community-based and volunteer-led support groups networked with local NHS Trusts (Chaston et al, 2004), local Alzheimer's Society services (Carone et al, 2016;Davies-Quarrell et al, 2010;Kinney et al, 2011) and organisations such as a local zoo (Kinney et al, 2011), a football club (Carone et al, 2016) and organisations hosting structured gardening programmes (Hewitt et al, 2013). Work-based programmes were organised between a respite service, a local hardware store and volunteers (Robertson & Evans, 2015; J.…”

“…All publications were in English. Seven papers used qualitative methodologies, one study used standardised measures (Perkins & Poynton, 1990) and two used mixed methods (Hewitt et al, 2013;Kelly & Innes, 2016). The remaining 10 papers provide descriptive accounts and were treated as qualitative data.…”