Heart in Mind:  Changing the Culture of Dementia Care in the Home

Award Date: 2019

Project Lead(s): Brandi D’Souza

Project Title: Heart in Mind:  Changing the Culture of Dementia Care in the Home

This project will refine and teach a nurturing approach to providing care to older adults with dementia that interweaves a person-centered care philosophy with activation therapy activities in a home care environment, thereby enhancing the relationships and interactions between the person living with dementia and their informal and formal caregivers. This approach supports aging in place by addressing the spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental needs of clients living with dementia in their homes, and ensuring they are active participants in their own daily lives. An individualized approach has been shown to improve client well-being, communication between persons living with dementia and their families, reduced falls, decreased use of psychotropic medications, and a reduction in frequency/severity of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).