Dementia-Sensitive Environmental Design of Living Units in German Nursing Homes: First Results of the German Environmental Audit Tool (G-EAT).

BACKGROUND

The built environment is a key component of dementia-specific care. Little is known about the characteristics of dementia-sensitive environmental elements in living units of nursing homes in Germany. The German Environmental Audit Tool (G-EAT) is a systematic assessment tool for describing these elements in detail.

AIM OF THE STUDY

To describe the extent of dementia-sensitive design principles and environmental elements in a regionally limited sample of living units in Germany.

METHODS

The built environment was assessed using G-EAT and analysed quantitatively and descriptively. Definitions of living units were developed based on site visits and analysed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

The 42 participating living units were heterogeneous in terms of space and composition. Dementia-sensitive design principles varied greatly in their implementation in the built environment; on average, 87.7% of the environmental elements were oriented towards a familiar environment. In contrast, visual accessibility was much less frequently enabled by the built environment (mean 37.3%).

CONCLUSIONS

The characteristics of various dementia-sensitive environmental elements need to be further investigated against the background of the nursing home care concept and the homogeneity of the resident group to enable the initiation of tailored environmental adaptation that can be implemented by interdisciplinary teams in nursing homes. This also requires a follow-up study with a larger sample of living units to identify the factors that promote and inhibit the development of a dementia-sensitive environment.