Occupational need in severe dementia: a descriptive study

Abstract

This project represents the first phase of a large study, the whole of which is intended to demonstrate the occupational need of elderly persons, in nine dementia care units were such observed over the course of a day, using the dementia care mapping instrument. Results indicate a severe dearth of occupational provision for this client group, most of whom spent the greater part of their day unoccupied. They also highlight the conditions of minimum well‐being experienced by most residents for most of the time. The anomaly of those units whose dementia care mapping scores did not match the perceived quality of their social and physical environments is discussed. A hypothesis of an altered perception of environment in severely impaired persons ins proposed.