College of Medicine, 12310Penn State University College of Medicine, State College, Hershey, PA, USA.
Department of Humanities, 12310Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
Dementia (London). 2021 Oct;20(7):2412-2423. doi: 10.1177/1471301221997290. Epub 2021 Feb 26.
For people living with dementia and their care partners, a decline in the ability to effectively communicate can cause significant distress. However, in recent decades, the arts have emerged as an effective care modality in fostering communication and expression for those with declining verbal skills and memory loss. Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is a national initiative that empowers people living with dementia by facilitating creative expression and social engagement through art-making in partnership with trained college student volunteers. Research has demonstrated that participation in the program benefits quality of life for those living with dementia and also improves student attitudes toward dementia. To date, however, no research has involved primary care partners. We implemented an OMA program at three residential care homes in State College, Pennsylvania, with residents cocreating artwork alongside primary care partners (i.e., a family member or primary medical personnel) over the course of four art-making sessions. We evaluated the effects of participation on quality of life and care partner burnout through pre-post use of "emotional thermometers" (measuring levels of distress, anxiety, depression, anger, and perceived quality of life), the National Institute of Health NIH emotional support scale, and the NIH caregiver assessment (care partner burnout). For people living with dementia, participation significantly increased perceived quality of life while decreasing distress, anxiety, depression, and anger ( < .01; = 12) after each class; however, the intervention did not significantly impact perceived emotional support. For care partners, participation significantly lowered post-intervention measures of burnout and self-rated stress ( < .01; = 9). This preliminary study suggests that a structured art-based activity appears to positively impact acute mood for patients and, importantly, decrease care partner burnout. Future research can bring more robust methods to bear in determining how to use OMA and other arts interventions to optimize social support for people living with dementia and their care partners.
对于患有痴呆症的患者及其护理伙伴来说，沟通能力的下降可能会导致严重的困扰。然而，近几十年来，艺术已经成为一种有效的护理方式，可以促进那些言语技能和记忆力下降的人的沟通和表达。艺术启智（OMA）是一项全国性倡议，通过与受过培训的大学生志愿者合作，通过艺术创作促进创意表达和社交参与，赋予患有痴呆症的人权力。研究表明，参与该计划可以提高痴呆症患者的生活质量，也可以改善学生对痴呆症的态度。然而，迄今为止，没有研究涉及主要护理伙伴。我们在宾夕法尼亚州州学院的三个住宅护理院实施了一项 OMA 计划，让居民与主要护理伙伴（即家庭成员或主要医疗人员）一起在四个艺术创作课程中共同创作艺术品。我们通过使用“情绪温度计”（衡量痛苦、焦虑、抑郁、愤怒和感知生活质量的水平）、美国国立卫生研究院 NIH 情绪支持量表和 NIH 护理人员评估（护理人员倦怠）来评估参与对生活质量和护理人员倦怠的影响。对于患有痴呆症的患者，参与活动后，生活质量显著提高，而痛苦、焦虑、抑郁和愤怒的水平显著降低（<.01；= 12）；然而，干预对感知情绪支持没有显著影响。对于护理人员，参与显著降低了干预后的倦怠和自我评估压力的指标（<.01；= 9）。这项初步研究表明，一项结构化的基于艺术的活动似乎可以积极影响患者的急性情绪，重要的是，降低护理人员的倦怠感。未来的研究可以采用更有力的方法来确定如何使用 OMA 和其他艺术干预措施，以优化痴呆症患者及其护理人员的社会支持。
