Search

Issue addressed: Arts on Prescription at Home (AoP@Home) involves a professional artist visiting a person with dementia and their informal carer(s) in their own home to engage them in participatory art making. While there is evidence for the use of these programs, more work is needed to facilitate effective implementation. This study explored contextual barriers and enablers to implementation of AoP@Home within a real‐world community aged care service. Methods: Two remote focus groups were conducted at a community aged care provider in Sydney, Australia. Key stakeholders (n = 14) were recruited, representing: people with dementia, informal (family) carers, AoP artists, service referrers and community service managers. Focus group transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis and mapped onto the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Outcomes were reviewed against the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) strategy compilation to inform development of a tailored implementation strategy. Results: Four overarching themes described the range of barriers and enablers to AoP@Home implementation: (1) "I don't know enough about it" (awareness and engagement within the sector), (2) artists delivering programs, (3) awareness and engagement of people impacted by dementia, (4) practicalities of implementation. All five domains of the CFIR were represented across the four themes. The ERIC compilation provided a list of practical strategies for implementation of AoP@Home. Conclusions: The implementation of psychosocial interventions for people living with dementia within a community aged care service is complex and multifactorial. So what?: Organisations planning implementation should consider conducting their own pre‐implementation analysis to identify context‐specific strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the lack of effective disease-modifying treatments in established dementia, there is a need to focus on maintaining the health and wellbeing of dementia carer and care recipient dyads in the community. An innovative psychosocial intervention involving participatory art was piloted to explore whether the positive benefits identified through participatory art in other settings might be shared by carers and their care recipients living with dementia in the community. Six dyads (one with two carers) from two regions in Sydney (Australia) were enrolled in the "Arts on Prescription @ Home" program. Dyads received eight weekly art sessions delivered in the home facilitated by a professional artist. Evaluation included pre- and post- program questionnaires to measure carer burden and wellbeing, and carer and artist interviews. Carer and artist interviews found that dyads benefited through enhanced social interaction, opportunities to be "in flow" and experience personal growth and achievement, and new dyadic interactions. Measures of carer burden and wellbeing indicated positive changes, but did not reach statistical significance. This pilot program suggests a feasible model for reaching dyads at home with participatory art is possible. The positive outcomes indicate that home-delivered participatory art is a psychosocial intervention worthy of further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]