Active Ageing in Residential Care Centres

Guideline development to promote meaningful and meaningful daily activities in an ASC.

As the (double) ageing population increases, so does the number of elderly people who can no longer live at home and move (by necessity or otherwise) to a residential care centre (HZC). According to the Residential Care Decree (2009), the explicit mission of a CHC is to increase the resident's autonomy and self-responsibility and to offer an adapted range of activities with sufficient social contacts. However, this does not appear to be so easy to achieve in practice. The move to the WZC often entails a loss of meaningful activities.

The aim of this PWO was to develop a multidisciplinary guideline that strives for a culture in the WZC in which meaningful and meaningful activities and participation can be realised for the residents. We based this on previous research conducted at the Arteveldehogeschool and elsewhere. However, it is not only important to develop an evidence-based guideline, we also aimed to implement it. This took into account preconditions that were mapped simultaneously, such as hindering and promoting factors in the environment and wishes and needs of the residents themselves.

With this project, the aim is to 1) 'empower' the socially vulnerable group of WZC residents and, in the philosophy of Active Ageing (AA), stimulate them towards higher self-reliance but especially a higher degree of participation and quality of life, 2) to develop a methodology and accompanying measuring instruments that can be used at both micro level (directly client-related objective) and meso level (quality indicator for the WZC), 3) to realise training on the newly developed professional methodology and 4) to support organisations in implementing this methodology and instruments.
 

On 23 February 2016, the article 'Meaningful activities in residential care homes. A question of quality of life' on www.sociaalnet.be.

On 12 May 2015, project staff presented their PWO project at the ‘Onderzoek op je bord’ event. Watch the video of this presentation here.

Press coverage following the study day on Friday 12 September 2014:

• 'Does the new man live in a residential care home?' www.weliswaar.be
• Interview with Radio 1 (The Morning) on 12 September 2014.
• Interview with Radio 2 on 12 September 2014.
• Report on Focus WTV. Review here.

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