Dementia care mapping to improve the environment

Dementia care mapping is an established approach to achieving person centred care for people with dementia and has been used by care practitioners for many years to improve the quality of life of people living with dementia in a range of care settings, including care homes and hospitals.1

Dementia care mapping is a process that gives staff the opportunity to see life from the viewpoint of the person living with dementia and therefore assist in planning care that is meaningful to that person. It can be used to fulfil a number of objectives, including monitoring and improving quality of care at all levels, influencing individual care planning and making meaningful changes and planning effective training for the staff team, based on improving their understanding of how their interactions can have a positive or negative impact on a person’s wellbeing. In addition, dementia care mapping can help a team to critically appraise specific areas of practice, as observations can take into consideration key daily events such as meal times and planned activities. 

The tool has been used by a number of care home providers during periods of change within their organisations. The beauty of using it is that it is intended to be used with the involvement of the whole staff team. Engaging with the team and giving them the opportunity to ask questions about the pending observation starts the process of ‘buy in’. Allowing staff to understand that the outcome of the observation is likely to give them some clear pointers with regard to planning care that will promote wellbeing is also a positive way to gain their trust andengagement, thus making the implementation of ideas much more likely.