Non-Medical Activities in Dementia Care in Germany: Use and Experienced Effects

Previous studies have shown benefits through non-pharmacological interventions for people with dementia. Non-medical activities (i.e., activities outside the medical sector) may have similar effect. As little is known about the use and perceived effects of non-medical activities in dementia care, this study's aim was to obtain population-based descriptive information. A survey in the form of structured interviews was conducted with n = 134 stakeholders. Participants used on average 17.7 non-medical activities (i.e., social, leisure, and household activities). They reported perceiving effects for, on average, 85.1% of the activities, which were mostly effects on improvements in wellbeing, activation, and social health. Overall, a higher use of non-medical activities was significantly associated with perceiving more effects, especially on cognition and preserving abilities, and perceiving not knowing an activity as a barrier. However, this differed by stakeholder group: Perceiving effects on cognition was only significant for caregiving professionals. Further, for this group, feeling sufficiently trained for dealing with dementia and self-organizing/ self-financing activities was associated with a higher use. Overall, the results indicate that non-medical activities are an important component of dementia care that seem to come with important benefits.