Is watching television a realistic leisure option for people with dementia?

Background: Watching television is a common leisure activity, not least among older people. However, watching television may become difficult when it is disturbed by symptoms of dementia.

Method: A total of 284 questionnaires were handed out to relatives of people with dementia in Iceland, in the Memory Clinic of the University Hospital and in specialized units for people with dementia (6 day-care units and 8 units within nursing homes).

The Family's Experience of Sharing the Care of a Person with Dementia with the Services in Specialized Day-Care Units.

Background: Services in specialized day-care units for individuals with dementia are set up to enable these persons to live in their own home. The purpose of this paper is to discern the experiences of families with these services while caring for a close relative with dementia.

Method: Longitudinal interviews with 8 family members were conducted.

End of life in an Icelandic nursing home: an ethnographic study.

Aim: To examine care of the dying elderly in a nursing home in Iceland.

Methods: An ethnographic study design was adopted. The study sample comprised all of the nursing home residents, their relatives, and all of the staff working in the nursing home, but with a particular focus on the 11 registered nurses (RNs) on the site.

Keeping up health promotion practices in specialized day care units for people with dementia.

Background: Health promotion practices hold promises for elderly individuals' quality of life. This article shows that such practices can be promoted in specialized day care units for individuals with dementia.

Method: Group interviews with 8 groups of staff (comprising 24 staff members) in 3 day care units.

Beneficial care approaches in specialized daycare units for persons with dementia.

Background: Daycare services are seen as a valuable means of helping old people to continue living in their own homes. Relatively little is known about care approaches in daycare units and how they benefit the clients themselves. This work attempts to show the way in which the care approaches in daycare units are constituted.

Quality of life in nursing homes: perception of physically frail elderly residents.

The purpose of this research was to disclose the characteristics of quality of life as perceived by physically frail but lucid elderly people living in nursing homes to increase the understanding of the phenomenon of quality of life in this setting. Eight elderly residents living in two nursing homes in Iceland were interviewed on two occasions. The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed to generate text for hermeneutic phenomenological analysis.