For feeling empowered, a sense of identity, usefulness, control, and self-worth is important for people living with dementia. We developed an empowerment intervention called the SPAN+ program to promote empowerment for nursing home residents with dementia. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of the SPAN+ program for these residents.

Healthcare professionals of two dementia special care units of one care organization worked with the SPAN+ intervention, which lasted for four months (September 2020 – December 2020). During the intervention, they reflected together on the four themes of empowerment for each resident, and set specific goals. Subsequently, they discussed and adjusted these goals with family caregivers and the person living with dementia (when possible). Furthermore, their personal professional development was targeted by specific exercises around the themes of empowerment.

We used the method of Bowen and colleagues (2009) to evaluate the feasibility of the SPAN+program in terms of acceptability, demand, implementation, practicality, integration, and possible efficacy.

Qualitative data was collected through interviews and a focus group discussion with participating healthcare professionals. Quantitative data was collected through standardized questionnaires filled in by healthcare professionals and family caregivers at baseline and at four- month follow-up.

Preliminary results show that the SPAN+ program supports healthcare professionals to increase attention for empowerment of residents living with dementia, by reflecting together with other healthcare professionals on what matters for each individual resident. Difficulties were reported in engaging family caregivers in the SPAN+ program.

The SPAN+ program seems valuable to increase the focus of healthcare professionals on a sense of identity, usefulness, control, and self-worth of people living with dementia in a nursing home, and to promote their empowerment.

Although the concept of empowerment seems useful for good care and support for people living with dementia, there is a lack of understanding as to how to define this concept. Therefore, insight is needed in what empowerment means for people living with dementia.

We performed an integrative literature review (PubMed, CINAHL, PsychINFO), including articles that addressed empowerment for people living with dementia in their title or abstract. Using qualitative data analysis software ATLAS.ti, we applied open codes to describe all relevant aspects of included articles. Common themes and categories were identified using inductive reasoning and constant comparison.

Sixty-nine articles were included. We identified four themes: (1) description of the state of being empowered, (2) the process of empowerment, (3) contribution of the environment to the empowerment process, and (4) effects on other variables. We combined these results with the conceptual framework of our previous qualitative study on the definition of empowerment for people living with dementia based on stakeholders’ perspectives into a revised conceptual framework. Subsequently, the combined information of both studies was visualized in a revised conceptual framework.

This literature review provides more details as to the role of the environment for empowerment of people living with dementia and suggests that empowerment can be considered a dynamic process, taking place through interaction between the person living with dementia and their environment. Our revised conceptual framework of empowerment can serve as a basis for future studies on empowerment for people living with dementia, and to support (in)formal caregivers in the empowerment process.

On May 11, the Dutch Government allowed 26 nursing homes to welcome 1 visitor per resident, after 2 months of lockdown. The study aimed to monitor in-depth the feasibility of the regulations and their impact on the well-being of residents, their visitors, and healthcare staff.

Mixed-methods study in 5 of the 26 facilities; the facilities were affiliated to an academic network of nursing homes.

Visitors and healthcare professionals.

Allowing visitors using local regulations based on national guidelines.

Digital questionnaire, analyzing documentation such as infection prevention control protocols, attending meetings of COVID-19 crisis teams, in-depth telephone or in-person interviews with visitors and healthcare professionals, and on-site observations.

National guidelines were translated with great variety into local care practice. Healthcare professionals agreed that reopening would increase the well-being of the residents and their loved ones. However, there were also great worries for increasing workload, increasing the risk of emotional exhaustion, and the risk of COVID-19 infections. Compliance with local regulations was generally satisfactory, but maintaining social distance and correctly wearing face masks appeared to be difficult. Care staff remained ambivalent for fear of infections. In general, allowing visitors was experienced as having a positive impact on the well-being of all stakeholders. Nevertheless, some residents with dementia showed negative effects.

The complete lockdown of Dutch nursing homes had a substantial impact on the well-being of the residents. The reopening was welcomed by all stakeholders, but provided a high organizational workload as well as feelings of ambivalence among care staff. In the second wave, a more tailored approach is being implemented. However, facilities are sometimes still struggling to find the right balance between infection control and well-being.

To explore the aspects of daily life that give people with young-onset dementia (YOD) a sense of usefulness.

Eighteen people with YOD and 21 informal caregivers participated in this qualitative study. Participants were recruited from specialized day-care centers for people with YOD in the Netherlands. Four focus groups were conducted with people with YOD, and four with informal caregivers. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using inductive content analysis.

Four themes emerged from the analysis: (1) staying engaged, (2) loss in daily life, (3) coping and adaptation, and (4) external support. Staying engaged in activities that provide a sense of usefulness or participating in leisure and recreational activities as much as possible in daily life emerged as the key theme. Retaining a sense of usefulness was considered both important and possible by having social roles or participating in functional activities. The importance of activities providing a sense of usefulness seemed to decrease over time, while the need for pleasant activities seemed to increase. Experienced loss, coping, adaptation, and available external support are important parts of the context in which the person with YOD tries to engage in daily life as much as possible. Active coping styles and external support appear to play a facilitating role in staying engaged.

It is important for people with YOD to have the opportunity to feel useful; especially in the early stages of the condition. Caregivers should be educated in ways to enhance a sense of usefulness and engagement in daily life for people with YOD.