DOI: 10.1002/alz.074109 ISSN: 1552-5260

A Scoping Review of Outdoor Activities for People Living with Dementia

Pattara Tavilsup, Margaret Abolarin, Lan Tran, Allysan Lui, Dallas Seitz
  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology
  • Neurology (clinical)
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Health Policy
  • Epidemiology

Abstract

Background

Outdoor or nature‐based activities can potentially offer benefits to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia (PLWD). The aim of this scoping review is to gain a clear understanding of current studies on outdoor activities for PLWD and their caregivers, as well as to identify gaps in the literature that may require further research.

Method

We systematically searched the following electronic databases: MEDLINE (Ovid); EMBASE (Ovid); APA PsycINFO (Ovid); CINAHL; Cochrane followed the guidelines recommended by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses Extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA‐ScR) (Tricco et al., 2018). We included primary studies that met the following criteria:1) the study population includes either PLWD or people self‐identified as caring for people with dementia; 2) study outcomes are related to outdoor activities and/or nature; 3) the study report effects of how the outdoor activities change the diagnosis of dementia either qualitatively and/or quantitatively; 4) primary studies and literature reviews, dissertations, conference presentations or discussion papers, peer reviews and non‐peer reviewed; 6) all geographical areas but published in English and year 1980 to present

Result

Our initial search resulted in 7678 potentially relevant titles and abstracts. This number was decreased to 299 articles for the full‐text review. The extracted data have been charted by the following categories: authors, year of publication, study location, aims/purpose, characteristics of included studies, methods, outcomes, and key findings. The findings were summarized using frequency counts of concepts and characteristics. Thematic analysis was undertaken which identified four themes. More specifically, we identified 1) Benefits of outdoor or nature‐based activities; 2) Interventions to improve quality of life; 3) Barriers and challenges to accessing outdoors and nature; 4) Recommendations for outdoors or nature‐based activities.

Conclusion

There is growing evidence for the benefit of outdoor activities, recommendations to improve outdoor activities and which interventions are most beneficial among people with dementia. There is limited information about factors which may act as barriers for people with dementia which will be important to ensure wider access to these activities.

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