The art of personalising interventions for people with dementia: Development, evaluation and implementation

Psychosocial interventions are most effective when they fit the needs, wishes and abilities of the person. Also in the care for people with dementia, person-centred care is recommended worldwide. However, this is not yet daily practice, also because of the lack of knowledge and tools about how to give shape to person-centred care. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on the development, evaluation and implementation of person-centred psychosocial interventions in dementia care. More specifically, research was done into the development of person-centred nature interventions, into the evaluation and implementation of Unforgettable, an art programme for people with dementia and their loved ones, and into an instrument to measure quality of life in a person-centred way. The two interventions (nature and art intervention) are intended both for people with dementia living at home and people with dementia living in a long-term care setting. The interventions as well as the QOL instrument regard people with mild to moderate dementia.