Social Interaction Among People With Dementia

Management of person with dementia with aggressive and violent behaviour: a systematic literature review

“…(2005) have shown that so‐called passive activities could decrease the resident’s confusion and in turn minimise aggression. Although there is documented knowledge that impaired residents are particularly vulnerable to low social interaction (Kelly, 1997), staff interactions outside the expected routines of resident care is still low (Norbergh et al. , 2002).…”

“…Zingmark et al (1993) and Normann et al (2005) have shown that so-called passive activities could decrease the resident's confusion and in turn minimise aggression. Although there is documented knowledge that impaired residents are particularly vulnerable to low social interaction (Kelly, 1997), staff interactions outside the expected routines of resident care is still low (Norbergh et al, 2002). Low social interaction between staff and nursing home residents seem to be strongly connected to cognitive impairment (Chen et al, 2000) and an additional barrier to staff interaction is aggressive behaviour (Kristiansen et al, 2005;Hellzén & Asplund, 2006).…”

Does Social Interaction Matter Psychological Well-Being in Persons With Dementia?

“…23 Participants who were too impaired to complete the MMSE were assigned a score of À1 as had been done in the parent study. The MMSE scores were categorized as mild (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23), moderate (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16), and severe or untestable (À1-10) to examine the severity of cognitive impairment. The CIRS-G is a comorbidity index based on physician or nurse practitioner ratings of presence and severity of chronic medical condition for 14 organ systems.…”

“…Previous research showed that maintaining verbal and nonverbal communications among persons with dementia helps them to remain as socially and functionally independent. 15 There is evidence that increased frequency 16 and quality 16,17 of staff-resident interactions may increase resident well-being. However, we lack an understanding of this relationship in persons with dementia.…”

The relationship between social interaction and characteristics of aggressive, cognitively impaired nursing home residents

“…Behavioral problems may further alienate residents from peers, staff, and even family. 6 The importance of social interaction for persons with dementia is emphasized by Kelly,7 but there are few empirical studies of social interaction among persons with dementia. Findings of one study revealed that staff on a geriatric unit interacted significantly less frequently with mentally impaired patients than with lucid patients.…”