Effects of Enriched Thematic Multi-Sensory Stimulation on BPSD in A Beach Room: A Pilot Study among Nursing-Home Residents with Dementia

Background: Studies of the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions indicate that sensory stimulation is a promising approach to reduce psychological and behavioural disturbances in people with dementia. A relatively new approach is enriched multi-sensory stimulation. Enriched multi-sensory stimulation includes the simultaneous stimulation of multiple senses by stimuli that are related to positive themes. Methods: A pilot - randomized controlled trial was conducted with repeated measurements and two conditions: (1) the experimental condition involving enriched multi-sensory stimulation in a thematic Beach Room; (2) the control condition involving visits to the nursing home’s standard Grand Café room without enriched multi-sensory stimulation. 49 nursing-home residents were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions, in which they participated three times a week for 30 minutes during 12 weeks. Outcomes were measured at three points in time. The primary outcomes - depression, agitation and apathy - were measured with the MDS-Depression Rating Scale, the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory and the Apathy Evaluation Scale respectively. The secondary outcomes — sleep-wake patterns, observed behaviour and mood — were measured with the Actiwatch activity monitor, and the INTERACT and FACE observation scales respectively. Multilevel repeated measures analyses were used for analyses. Results: In total 35 residents completed the follow-up: 18 residents in the Beach Room and 17 in the Grand Café environment. Sleep improved among residents who visited the Grand Café environment. These residents also showed fewer feelings of depression. No improvements in the selected primary and secondary outcome measures were found among the residents who visited the Beach Room. Conclusions: Enriched multi-sensory stimulation is not necessarily more effective in reducing psychological and behavioural symptoms among nursing-home residents with dementia than stimulation within a less enriched environment. More research is needed.