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A Positive Environment: Physical and Social Influences on People with Senile Dementia in Residential Care. - book reviews

Age and Ageing, March, 1994 by Mary Marshall

A Positive Environment: Physical and Social Influences on People with Senile Dementia in Residential Care

Ann Netten

Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 1993. 126 pp. Price [pound]28.00 (hardback); [pound]12.95 (paperback).

This is a book for researchers since it is as much about the methodology of researching something as complicated as residential homes as it is about the findings, which are fascinating. A popular version would be immensely useful to service planners and managers, although the author would probably balk at the idea since she emphasizes the tentative nature of many of her findings.

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The author takes an ecological view of residential care, by which she means that all the factors (residents, staff, design etc.) affect each other and it is therefore impossible to separate out cause and effect as clearly as the outcome measurers would like. Planners and managers with a research bent will be able to make good use of the findings, which include the fact that what staff insist are the principles of care in an establishment are often not applied to residents with dementia, that rotating staff may be in the interests of the staff but unhelpful to the residents, the importance of diminishing noise and increasing light, the fact that nursing qualifications in the staff seem to have a beneficial influence on the orientation of the residents and so on. We urgently need more studies to build on the invaluable insights provided by this research.

MARY MARSHALL

Dementia Services Development Centre,

University of Stirling

Health Care Industry

A Positive Environment: Physical and Social Influences on People with Senile Dementia in Residential Care. - book reviews

Age and Ageing, March, 1994 by Mary Marshall

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