Australian researcher to examine multi-sensory therapies in residential care.

The use and effectiveness of multi-sensory therapies, including Snoezelen rooms, for people with dementia is the subject of a new research project.

Snoezelen rooms use various devices to stimulate the senses and some are used to try and change certain dementia behaviours. These often include lights, movement, touch and sound.

Anecdotal evidence suggests Australian aged care facilities have widely embraced the therapy. However, according to Dr Michael Bauer at LaTrobe University, there has been little research examining its effectiveness.

“Some facilities say the person’s change in mood or behaviour is remarkable. Other facilities say they spent a lot of money on the room and don’t notice much difference in the person,” says Bauer, researcher at the university’s Australian Centre for Evidence Based Aged Care.

It is currently unclear how facilities are using Snoezelen, how they evaluate its effectiveness, who in the facility oversees its use or what criteria staff use to determine who uses it, he says.

“The way it is used and set up varies between facilities. Some have dedicated rooms, often set aside when the facility is being built. Others use an existing room and set up a projector, paint some walls, put in a CD player and away they go. Facilities can spend a lot of money on this, or a little. Other facilities have mobile Snoezelen, with equipment on a trolley that’s brought to the bedside.”

Snoezelen is now a registered trademark, selling a range of appliances from disco balls and rocking chairs to neon lighting and fibre optics.

The therapy originated in Holland, initially for children with intellectual disabilities. It became popular for use with people with dementia in the 1980s.

Bauer says there is some international research on its use with children, which found some benefits. However, the research that has examined its use with older people with dementia is inconclusive.

“Most studies looked at individual users and their responses. However, large rigorous clinical trials on older users with dementia are few and far between. The Cochrane institute published a review of the evidence some time ago and couldn’t really conclude that it was effective,” he says.

This year, as the initial phase of the two-year research project, Bauer and his colleagues contacted all Victorian facilities to invite them to participate in a questionnaire around their use of Snoezelen. It’s hoped analysis of this initial data will be complete by the end of this year.

Next year there will a comparison of a facility that uses Snoezelen and one that doesn’t.

“The second year of the research project will involve a trial of Snoezelen and what we know to be best practice for people with certain dementia behaviours. We’ll be evaluating residents in one facility that has a Snoezelen room and another that doesn’t - but uses other interventions in response to the behaviours,” says Bauer.