"The benefits are many," she continued. "They include helping people stay connected with the world around them; temporarily reducing agitation and depression; increasing socialization; improving relationships with staff; increasing satisfaction and self-fulfillment, and even reducing stress for the staff."
Some facilities have even experienced cost savings after implementing these programs, citing one in Perth, Australia. "They saved $100,000 a year in having less staff turnover, less training time for new staff, less time spent on complaints, and saw an increased waiting list to enter the facility."
The colleagues also have collaborated on a validated measure of creative-expressive abilities among people with dementia. The Creative-Expressive Abilities Assessment (CEAA) so far has been tested and validated in 175 people with dementia. The assessment includes 25 core items. Each is rated in three domains: memory, the ability to recognize and participate in humor and music, and the person’s ability to relive or anticipate events. In scoring reminiscence, for example, the person giving the test rates how frequently the patient speaks about the remote or recent past; the patient may express this verbally or even though facial expressions or gestures. Validation tests indicated inter-rater reliability of 82%.
"When we refer to creative-expression activities or programs, we mean that the activity stimulated creative abilities within the person with dementia and facilitated, encouraged, enabled creative expression demonstrated through verbal and nonverbal reactions," Dr. Gottlieb-Tanaka said. "Those creative responses need to be measured by a relevant scale that is sensitive enough to catch those everyday creative responses. I believe our CEAA tool does this."
Neither of the researchers identified any financial conflicts.