Heidi Wang
NOEN AS
Norway
Knowledge-based person centered activity for people with dementia living at home
RCN
502,601
01/09/2012
4.5
Alzheimer's disease & other dementias
Kupa: Knowledge-based person centered activity for people with dementia living at home. As of today, over 77,000 people are affected by dementia in Norway. Each year 10,000 new persons have the disease. Dementia causes the person to gradually loose the ability to self-care and to perform everyday tasks. The situation leads to inactivity and isolation and an increasing risk of health failure. Course of treatment is not the standard when having dementia diagnosis today and dependents will turn responsible for following up patients with support in daily life and ensuring good health. 310,000 families are indirectly affected. It is known that individualized activity can prevent morbidity and improve quality of life. Social and emotional support to promote activity and participation can prevent falls, loneliness and further cognitive impairment. It can also reduce the need for medication and stress on families. Because of individual physical, cognitive and environmental constraints for the person with dementia, it is a challenge to facilitate targeted services to the individual. Individual, comprehensive facilitation is an option for success, whereas success is measured in economic profitability and personal quality of life and health. The project has developed knowledge and built systems that will make it easier to facilitate individual and health activity through a profitable model. This service is provided by personnel who do not need to have health care formal qualifications but who are engaged, has sensitivity for the user and presence in service. At first we developed knowledge of the primary players in such a service.