SynthesisDementia (London, England)2021
Social interactions of persons with dementia living in special care units in long-term care: A mixed-methods systematic review.
Synthesis in Dementia (London, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Racial differences in the quality of care interactions among nursing home residents with dementia.Ethnicity & health · 2025Trial
- Article
- A Mixed-Methods Scoping Review of Innovative Long-term Care Facility Design and Associated Outcomes.Innovation in aging · 2025Review
- Defining familiarity in nursing homes providing care for residents with dementia: a scoping review.Frontiers in dementia · 2025Review
- Critical Review of Neurobiological Evidence for Relationships Between Social Isolation, Loneliness and the Risk of Developing of Alzheimer's Disease: A New Model.Journal of aging research · 2025Review
- Social interaction of people living with dementia in residential long-term care: an ecological momentary assessment study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Organizational characteristics of highly specialized units for people with dementia and severe challenging behavior.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Differences in Staff-Resident Care Interactions by Nursing Home Racial Composition: a Preliminary Analysis.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2024Article
- Care provider interaction and psychological well-being of persons living with dementia in long-term care: a longitudinal observational study.BMC nursing · 2023Article
- Understanding Capacity and Optimizing Meaningful Engagement among Persons Living with Dementia.Dementia (London, England) · 2023Article
- Surviving Through Solitude: A Prospective National Study of the Impact of the Early COVID-19 Pandemic and a Visiting Ban on Loneliness Among Nursing Home Residents in Sweden.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Article
- Home- and community-level predictors of social connection in nursing home residents: A scoping review.Health science reports · 2022Article
- Social Connectedness among Long-Stay Nursing Home Residents with Alzheimer's and Dementia: Exploring Individual and Facility-Level Variation.Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders · 2022Article
- Mechanisms of impact and contextual aspects of a dementia special care unit in long-term care: a process evaluation.BMC geriatrics · 2021Article
- Editorial: Nursing Homes and Long Term Care after COVID-19: A New Era?The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSpecial care units are a well-utilized approach in the long-term care for persons with dementia. A therapeutic goal of such settings is to provide meaningful engagement and a sense of community that is crucial for the overall quality of life. In recent years, several studies followed this notion by investigating residents' social interactions and the influence of the environment on these interactions.
aimsThis review aims to synthesize the literature on the social interactions of persons with dementia living in special care units.
designA mixed-methods systematic review was conducted.
methodsLiterature was searched in PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases. Additionally, reference lists of relevant articles were searched. Studies were screened, data were extracted and the quality was appraised. Separate syntheses were conducted for qualitative and quantitative studies, which were subsequently merged in the final mixed-methods synthesis.
resultsIn total, 18 articles were included, investigating large-scale, small-scale and homelike special care units and green care farms. Residents in special care units experience few social interactions but more than those in the comparative groups. Opportunities to interact are only marginally seized. Interactions typically occur in small groups and are facilitated by familiarity and the organizational environment. Residents mainly rely on staff members to create social interaction, for example initiating or facilitating resident-to-resident interaction.
conclusionAlthough the evidence base is increasing, it is still fragmented and built on different concepts, interventions, control groups and measurements. Nevertheless, the first conclusions suggest a positive impact of special care units on residents' social interactions. Although the review yielded a more comprehensive picture of residents' social life, further high-quality research built on a sound theoretical background is needed.
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