The Influence of Life Story Books in Dementia Care - Paperback

by Rick Kral (Author)

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Health - Nursing Science - Dementia, grade: A, Western Carolina University, language: English, abstract: This study explores the use of life story books as an effective intervention in developing person-centered care practices that increase quality of life for individuals living with dementia in a long-term care facility. The purpose was to pilot the feasibility and impact of an 8-week life story book intervention and examine how a personalized life story book (LSB) can enhance quality of life, improve cognition and facilitate the provision of person-centered dementia care for nursing home residents living with dementia. A pretest-posttest within-participants design was used to measure quality of life and cognitive status. An in-depth literature review was done to explore best practices in the use of life story books in caring for people living with dementia, and then develop and implement a pilot study for a single-arm life story book intervention on five study participants. The use of life story books can be an integral part of a person-centered dementia care program. While neither test was significantly improved over the 8-week pilot, cognitive status did show some improvement. Further research is needed to establish best practices in the creation of life story books, protocols for use in care planning and the implementation of a life story book intervention program.