FOSTERING AUTONOMY - Exploring innovative dementia care environments in four countries - Symposium

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by James

Dementia is a major age-related disease worldwide, impacting people living with dementia, their caregivers, and health and social care systems. This international symposium presents four studies on innovative dementia care environments across four countries, aiming to strengthen independence and slow cognitive decline. The program evaluates organizational, social, and physical environmental elements and their effects on residents’ autonomy, quality of life, social health, and caregiver practices, including Green Care Farms in the Netherlands, Dementia Village models in Canada, neighborhood-built environment analyses in Germany using GIS, and smart ambient bright light adaptations in U.S. nursing homes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Symposium overview

Goals and scope

Environmental elements and impacts

Country-specific presentations

Netherlands: Green Care Farms

Canada: Dementia Village models

Germany: neighborhood-built environment (GIS)

United States: physical environment adaptation (smart ambient bright light)

340 Innovation in Aging, 2025, Vol. 9, No. S2 SESSION 3035 (SYMPOSIUM) Abstract citation ID: igaf122.1150 FOSTERING AUTONOMY: EXPLORING INNOVATIVE DEMENTIA CARE ENVIRONMENTS IN FOUR COUNTRIES Chair: Hilde Verbeek Co-Chair: Karin Wolf-Ostermann Discussant: Margaret Calkins Dementia is one of the major age-related diseases world-wide and challenges not only people living with dementia and their caregivers, but also societies and health care systems as a whole. To better meet the needs of people living with dementia, innovative care environments are being developed worldwide, as part of the wider community. Aiming to strengthen independence and slow down the cognitive decline, efforts concentrate on continuously engaging people living with dementia in activities of daily life, despite a progression of the disease. This international symposium will provide four presentations on innovative dementia care environments in four different countries, which stimulate and support autonomy of older people living with dementia inan active daily life. It examines diverse environmental elements of the care environment, including organizational, social and physical aspects, and what their impact is on residents and their caregivers. The first presentation explores Green Care Farms in the Netherlands, focusing on the impact of organizational environment, in particular culture and staff’s task integration, on residents’ autonomy. The second presenter discusses results from two Dementia Village models in Canada, exploring the environmental effect on residents’ quality of life and staff’s care practices. The third presentation examines the impact of the neighborhood-built environment on social health of older residents living with dementia in Germany, using Geographical Information Systen (GIS) analyses. Finally, the last presenter describes the effects of adaptation in the physical environment, [i.e. smart](i.e. smart), ambient bright light on residents with dementia living in nursing homes in the United States.

FAQs

What is the symposium trying to achieve for people living with dementia?

It aims to strengthen independence and help slow cognitive decline by continuously engaging people living with dementia in daily life activities.

Which types of environmental factors does the symposium examine?

It examines organizational, social, and physical aspects of care environments and their impacts on residents and caregivers.

How do the presentations differ across the four countries?

The Netherlands focuses on organizational culture and staff task integration in Green Care Farms; Canada reviews Dementia Village models; Germany analyzes neighborhood-built environments for social health using GIS; the United States describes effects of adapting physical environments, including smart ambient bright light, in nursing homes.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by James