Multi Sensory Environments and Dementia
Running head: MSE and Dementia Multi-Sensory Environments and Dementia:
Abstract This paper addresses the concern for the wellbeing of patients with dementia and the struggle to find a new or alternative and effective treatment. The topic, Multi-sensory environments and dementia, was selected for the challenge it presented, and the conviction that the writer has for the rights of geriatric psychiatric patients. Along with personal conviction, this topic was chosen because of the intrigue of the new frontier of neuropsychology. The Multi-sensory environment itself is based on beliefs in this field of psychology for which there is little research. Research was compiled from several different sources; from journals, to reference material. A thorough literature review was conducted and examples from said review were applied to the body of this paper. Through the literature review, the researcher was able to find both biased and unbiased data about the topic and an answer to the original problem was found. The overall findings were unfortunately inconclusive. More research is needed in this field before any firm belief can be established. The review provided somewhat of a settling discovery however. While there is no evidentiary support for the Multi-sensory Environment to replace the use of drug or other therapeutic interventions, there is firm support that it is on equal par with other therapies. The Multi-sensory Environment can safely become an addition to the current practices of treating dementia. This is due to the fact that throughout the review, no signs of negative effects were found from the use of an MSE. In the future research on this topic should be more regulated. There need to be established tools to measure the intensity and duration of the negative behaviors displayed by dementia patients. There need to be universal measures put in place so that world-wide research can be relevant and valid. Since neuropsychology is a relatively
Abstract This paper addresses the concern for the wellbeing of patients with dementia and the struggle to find a new or alternative and effective treatment. The topic, Multi-sensory environments and dementia, was selected for the challenge it presented, and the conviction that the writer has for the rights of geriatric psychiatric patients. Along with personal conviction, this topic was chosen because of the intrigue of the new frontier of neuropsychology. The Multi-sensory environment itself is based on beliefs in this field of psychology for which there is little research. Research was compiled from several different sources; from journals, to reference material. A thorough literature review was conducted and examples from said review were applied to the body of this paper. Through the literature review, the researcher was able to find both biased and unbiased data about the topic and an answer to the original problem was found. The overall findings were unfortunately inconclusive. More research is needed in this field before any firm belief can be established. The review provided somewhat of a settling discovery however. While there is no evidentiary support for the Multi-sensory Environment to replace the use of drug or other therapeutic interventions, there is firm support that it is on equal par with other therapies. The Multi-sensory Environment can safely become an addition to the current practices of treating dementia. This is due to the fact that throughout the review, no signs of negative effects were found from the use of an MSE. In the future research on this topic should be more regulated. There need to be established tools to measure the intensity and duration of the negative behaviors displayed by dementia patients. There need to be universal measures put in place so that world-wide research can be relevant and valid. Since neuropsychology is a relatively
References: Baker, R. et al. (2003). Effects of multi-sensory stimulation for people with dementia. 136 patients from three different countries participated in a randomized controlled trial to test the effects of Snoezelen on dementia