Capturing interests: therapeutic recreation activities for persons with dementia.

Abstract

Behaviors such as screaming, wandering, and physical aggression occur in over 50% of personswith dementia. Therapeutic recreation activities have demonstrated promise as interventions forthese dementia-related behaviors; however, few activities have wide appeal and caregiverscontinue to express the need to find activities that keep persons with dementia engaged inmeaningful pursuits. This article describes a treatment theory for selecting activities that matchboth skill level and personality style of interest, and a pilot study that tested the effectiveness ofthese activities. Ten nursing home residents served as their own control in a crossoverexperimental design in which they were assigned to treatment and control activities for 12consecutive days, each in a random order. Treatment activities resulted in greater subjectengagement and more displays of positive affect. During treatment, there were fewer days whendementia behaviors were exhibited than during control activities.