Effects of Physical Environment on Quality of Life among Residents with Dementia in Long-Term Care Facilities in Canada and Sweden

Reduction in competence makes older adults with dementia more sensitive to the influence of the physical environment. The aim of the longitudinal study was to examine whether residents with dementia in long-term facilities with variability in physical environmental characteristics in Vancouver (N= 11), Canada and Stockholm (N=13), Sweden had a difference in their quality of life (QoL). QoL was assessed using Dementia Care Mapping tool three times over one year for the reliability of data. The results of the study demonstrated that the residents with dementia living in a homelike and positive stimulating setting showed less withdrawn behaviors and a higher level of well-being compared to those in a large-scale institutional setting. This study also found that the residents living in a large-scale institutional environment spent more monotonous times than the other groups, which may be to provision of fewer structured activity programs or less social interaction with neighbors or staff members. Residents living in a large-scale institutional setting in Canada showed so far as five times more agitated/ distressed behaviors and twice more withdrawal compared to the ones living in a small-scale homelike setting in Sweden. The study supports that the large-scale institutional environment was considerably associated with levels of lower quality of life among the residents with dementia.