Person-centred creative dance intervention for persons with dementia living in the community in Singapore

Abstract

This paper examines the efficacy of the use of creative dance intervention for persons with mild to moderate dementia, living in the community. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected on the sample of 35 older people to track the impact of the intervention on the domains of function, quality of life and well-being and caregiving stress through the use of the gait speed test, CONFbal scale, Functional Independence Measure, Quality of Life-AD, Dementia Care Mapping and Zarit Burden Interview. There was an overall improvement in all the domains. Statistically significant improvement was found in the Quality of Life reports ( p = 0.002) and well-being as measured by Dementia Care Mapping ( p < 0.001). The findings assert the positive contributions of person-centred creative dance towards an approach and environment that promotes dementia care. Future studies on determining sustainability of such intervention are recommended.