The impact of the physical environment on people with dementia in long-term care facilities

Uvod: Podaljševanje življenjske dobe je povezano z vse večjo pojavnostjo demence. Ker delež starejših močno narašča v vseh državah, bo število obolelih iz leta v leto višje. Poznamo tradicionalne oblike zdravljenja oziroma lajšanja simptomov demence, vedno več pa uporabljamo alternativne oblike zdravljenja, ki bistveno vplivajo na boljšo kakovost življenja. Ena izmed oblik lajšanja simptomov demence je ustrezna zasnova fizičnega okolja. Namen zaključnega dela je bil ugotoviti, na kakšen način fizično okolje vpliva na osebe z demenco v ustanovah za dolgotrajno oskrbo. Metode: V zaključnem delu je bil izveden pregled znanstvene in strokovne literature. Članki so bili iskani v podatkovnih bazah: PubMed, CINAHL in SAGE journals. Uporabljena je bila deskriptivna metoda. Za analizo podatkov je bila uporabljena tematska analiza. Rezultati: Skupno je bilo od 306 zadetkov v končno analizo vključenih devet člankov. Oblikovana je bila ena glavna tema in pet podtem, s katerimi lažje razumemo vpliv fizičnega okolja na osebe z demenco, in sicer: (I) arhitekturni vidiki okolja, (II) ambientalni vidiki okolja, (III) vpliv na vedenje, (IV) vpliv na počutje in (V) kakovost življenja ter vpliv na izvajanje vsakodnevnih aktivnosti. Razprava in zaključek: Ugotovljeno je bilo, da ima fizično okolje veliko pozitivnih vplivov na vedenje oseb z demenco v ustanovah za dolgotrajno oskrbo in da vedno več ustanov namenja pozornost ustrezni zasnovi okolja.Introduction: Increasing life expectancy is associated with an increasing incidence of dementia. As the proportion of the elderly is growing sharply in all countries, the number of patients will increase year by year. We know traditional forms of treatment or alleviation of dementia symptoms, but we also use alternative forms of treatment that have a significant impact on a better quality of life. One of the forms of alleviating the symptoms of dementia is the appropriate design of the physical environment. The purpose of the final work is to determine how the physical environment affects behaviour of people with dementia in long-term care facilities. Methods: In the final part, a review of scientific and professional literature was carried out. Articles were searched in databases: PubMed, CINAHL and SAGE journals. A descriptive method was used. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: In total, out of 306 hits, nine articles were included in the final analysis. One main theme and five sub-themes were created to help us better understand the impact of the physical environment on people with dementia, namely: (I) architectural aspects of the environment, (II) ambient aspects of the environment, (III) impact on behavior, (IV) impact on well-being and (V) quality of life and impact on daily activities. Discussion and conclusion: It has been found that the physical environment has many positive effects on the behavior of people with dementia in long-term care facilities and that more and more facilities are paying attention to appropriate environmental design