Prof Dr Karin Wolf-Ostermann, Professor of Health Care Research and head of the department of the same name at the Institute of Public Health and Nursing Research (IPP), and her research assistant Janissa Altona successfully took part in the international annual conference of the American Gerontological Society (GSA) in Seattle and also in an international symposium as part of this. The symposium offered a total of five presentations on various innovative care environments in Canada, the USA, the Netherlands and Germany that stimulate and support an active everyday life for people with dementia. On the one hand, the researchers presented ‘Social participation of people with dementia in assisted living communities in Germany’. Social participation and social relationships are crucial for healthy ageing and result in a lower mortality rate and better physical and mental health. Recent studies show that social relationships and participation in social activities are important dimensions of social health and have the potential to act as a buffer in the process of cognitive decline by delaying or even protecting against the development of dementia.
These primarily include social activities, but also movement-related, sensory, cognitive and creative approaches as well as activities outside the home. Data from various studies on assisted living communities in Germany from 2009-2022 were analysed. The results show that participation in social activities in assisted living communities for people with dementia is not only conceptually anchored, but is also practised in everyday life and should therefore be taken into account when discussing care arrangements for people with dementia. A researcher of the same department, Julia Misonow, was co-author of this presentation.
A further contribution was presented on the topic of ‘How does the neighbourhood living environment (NBE) contribute to the social health of people with dementia?’. The lead author Janissa Altona analysed the following questions: 1. which places in the residential and living environment are subjectively perceived as positive or negative by people with disabilities and their carers, and how satisfied are they with the dementia-friendliness of their social space? 2. what role do the social aspects of NBE play and which aspects are conducive to social health? To this end, individual interviews were conducted with people with dementia and their informal carers. The results of both qualitative research approaches were presented and discussed in order to promote participatory approaches in the design of NBE for people with dementia and, in particular, to take greater account of social health factors. Co-authors were Emily Mena, Benjamin Schüz and Karin Wolf-Ostermann.