Nienke Nijhof*, PhD Student, Utrecht, Netherlands Lisette Van Gemert-pijnen*, Coordinator eHealth, Enschede, Netherlands Helma Van Rijn, PhD student, Delft, Netherlands Joost Van Hoof, PhD student, Eindhoven, Netherlands Theo De Vries, Professor, Leiden, Netherlands Erwin Seydel, professor, Enschede, Netherlands Track: Research Presentation Topic: Public (e-)health, population health technologies, surveillance Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Panel Presentation Building: MECC Room: Auditorium 2 Date: 2010-11-30 01:00 PM – 02:00 PM Last modified: 2010-09-21

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Background: Worldwide, there were 30 million people with dementia (PWD) in 2009 and will be 100 million in 2050, respectively. These numbers show the need for a change in care for PWD. The provision of leisure and pleasant activities to PWD in group living environments is a serious challenge for changing care for dementia. Leisure activities can support PWD in several ways: meeting in basic needs, providing comfort and social interaction, reducing boredom, agitation, and isolation. An exemplary activity targeted at meeting these needs is ‘’De Klessebessers (KB)’’ (The Chitchatters), which aims to stimulate social interaction among PWD with supporting software This is innovative since eHealth interventions for PWD generally concentrates on safety and monitoring activities. This eHealth intervention is more for the social well being of the patients and to support activity therapists in their work. The activity comprises a radio, television, telephone, and treasure box. These objects have an old-fashioned, somewhat cartoonesque appearance, in order to create a familiar “look-and-feel” for the players. The software makes it possible to select specific categories or years in these objects which are well known by the patient.
Objective: This study’s focus follows from the original aim of the KB-designers; to stimulate social interaction.
Methods: In a nursing home and day care centre, the KB game was played with different groups of PWD (differences in age and phase of dementia) (n=21: 12 females, 9 males, mean MMSE = 17, range 3-28). In the morning KB (with technology), and in the afternoon an activity called ‘’Question game’’ (without technology) were played for 45 minutes. These activities were played twice in a two-month period, and outcomes were compared in terms of impact on social interaction. Group sizes ranged from 3 to 8 PWD assisted by 1 or 2 activity therapists. Two researchers observed the players during the activity with the Oshkosh Social Behavior Coding (OSBC) scale, which encompasses both verbal and nonverbal social and nonsocial behavior (21 behavioral codes). These behaviors can have a person-initiated and other-initiated character (quantitative study). A total of 6 activity therapists were interviewed on the KB afterwards (qualitative study).
Results and conclusion: The quantitative results showed positive significant results in the behavioral codes from the OSBC scale for the Chitchatters compared to the Questiongame. The Chitchatters stimulate more and more advanced conversations without distraction (p=0,011), makes people more wandering during the game (p=0,020), prompts communication (p=0,005). The Chitchatters especially stimulate for persons with high MMSE scores (>10) (p=0,0045). The activity therapists said during the qualitative interviews that the Chitchatters supports them in their work and is easy to use and understand. The results of this research correspond with earlier research, which concludes that leisure activities with technology can show positive results on well-being. PWD also have different leisure experiences on the basis of the age and stage of dementia.