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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Gesundheitswesen 2024; 86(S 04): S282-S289
DOI: 10.1055/a-2326-6612
Original Article

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

Article in several languages: English | deutsch
Anne Fahsold 
1   Standort Witten, Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen e.V., Witten, Germany
2   Fakultät für Gesundheit, Department für Pflegewissenschaft, Universität Witten/Herdecke, Witten, Germany
,
Kathrin Schmüdderich
1   Standort Witten, Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen e.V., Witten, Germany
2   Fakultät für Gesundheit, Department für Pflegewissenschaft, Universität Witten/Herdecke, Witten, Germany
,
Hilde Verbeek
3   Department of Health Services Research, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
,
Rebecca Palm
4   Fakultät VI, Department für Versorgungsforschung, Carl von Ossietzky Universitat Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
2   Fakultät für Gesundheit, Department für Pflegewissenschaft, Universität Witten/Herdecke, Witten, Germany
,
Bernhard Holle
1   Standort Witten, Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen e.V., Witten, Germany
2   Fakultät für Gesundheit, Department für Pflegewissenschaft, Universität Witten/Herdecke, Witten, Germany
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

dementia - environment design - nursing homes - health facility environment - surveys and questionnaires

Schlüsselwörter

Demenz - bauliche Umgebung - demenzsensible Gestaltungsprinzipien - stationäre Langzeitversorgung - Assessmentinstrument


Publication History

Article published online:
30 July 2024

© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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