Consultancy in Psychology

ABRE can provide consultancy services in psychology-based subject areas.

Services we offer include:

* Dementia Care Mapping

Please contact us to find out how we can help you.

Dementia Care Mapping

- a quality assurance tool for dementia care settings

What is Dementia Care Mapping (DCM)?

DCM is a tool for evaluating and improving the care given to people with dementia in formal settings such as day centres, residential homes, nursing homes and hospital wards. Above all else it is an instrument for creating change.
An observer, commonly called a mapper, works alongside a care team. They collect detailed data related to the quality of life of some, or all, of the people with dementia who are receiving care; they give feedback quickly and work with staff to create a plan of action for making improvements.
DCM takes a person-centred view of care i.e. the task of care is seen as being much more than meeting basic physical needs; it is about the whole person, of enabling each individual to make full use of their abilities and remain a social being.

How does DCM work?

DCM is a system of observation where people are monitored over long periods of time. One mapper may monitor up to six people at a time so that the experiences of several people can be observed.
The mapper is looking for four things:
* the range of activities in which a person is engaging
* the relative level of well-being of the person
* episodes of best practice care provided by the care team
* episodes of care providing that could be improved

During an evaluation, which may take several hours, recordings are made every five minutes. This detailed information is processed and fed back to the care team for discussion.

How is the information used?

The information obtained from a DCM evaluation is part of a continuing development process within the care setting so that the results are incorporated into a long-term strategy for improvement.

After a DCM evaluation the care team will:

* understand how people experience the care they receive
* set goals for specific and measurable improvements to the care process
* identify needs for staff development and training

How did DCM start?

In 1989 Dr Tom Kitwood, University of Bradford, and his colleague Kathy Bredin were commissioned by the local Health Authority to evaluate a day centre for people with dementia. They found that many aspects of this service could be evaluated by questionnaire but they were concerned that no method existed where they could get the views of the service users. Although people with dementia may be able to indicate how they feel about what is happening to them right now, they often can't deal with the mental processing necessary to form an opinion about a service they are receiving over a period of time. Tom and Kathy set about developing a method that would give people with dementia a voice, however great their impairment. The result was a system of direct observation, launched in 1992, now known as Dementia Care Mapping.