Interventions to improve mood and/or social interaction in residents of long-term care facilities with dementia: A systematic review

Objective

To review the available evidence on non-pharmacological interventions to improve mood, quality-of-life (QoL)or social interactions in residents of long-term care facilities with dementia.

Methods

We searched Medline, Emcare, and PsycINFO using keywords: dementia, long-term care, mood, QoL, and social interaction. The search included long-term care residents clinically diagnosed with dementia and the methodological strength was evaluated using predefined criteria and tools.

Results

The final synthesis included 50 published studies with significant heterogeneity. There was more evidence for green therapy, small-scale living, Snoezelen, Storytelling, group exercise, reminiscence and Montessori activities.

However, there was minimal evidence for dementia café, music, recreation time, art activities, staff wearing street-clothes, play activities, humour, traditional food, emotion oriented, simulated presence, computer, wellbeing-enhancing occupation, MultiTANDEM Plus, multisensory, person-centred, animal assisted and Staff Training interventions.

Conclusion

Multiple non-pharmacological interventions showed promise in enhancing mood, QoL, and social interaction. Future research could explore long-term effects of therapy, increase sample size of patients, and improve generalizability of therapy.