Developing and evaluating Christmas events for people with dementia

Collins, T

Abstract

The Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) (2012) reports that many older people are likely to be alone over the Christmas period. This may be particularly difficult for older people living with dementia and their carers who may feel especially isolated and marginalised at this time of year. This paper draws on evaluative research findings from a community Christmas event held in December 2014 at the University of Salford for older people living with dementia and their carers.

Seven guests took part in semi-structured interviews to explore their experiences and perceptions of the event, seven staff and student volunteers participated in a group interview to explore and discuss their participation in the event. Interview transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis.

Three over-arching themes, with sub-themes, emerged from the interviews: 'reasons for participants attending the event', 'a different Christmas Day: the impact on volunteers and guests', and 'learning, planning and moving forwards'.

The findings illustrate that a range of people participated in the Christmas Day event for a variety of reasons. The event itself had a positive impact, including the shared experience of social belonging, for all involved. There are tangible longer term benefits as a result of the event, such as ongoing contact between participants and the development of supportive networks in the local community.

Citation

Collins, T. (2015, September). Developing and evaluating Christmas events for people with dementia. Presented at Human rights and dementia conference, University of Salford, MediaCity UK campus

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: Human rights and dementia conference
• Conference Location: University of Salford, MediaCity UK campus
• Start Date: Sep 10, 2015
• End Date: Sep 11, 2015
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 23, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 23, 2015
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference