Assessment/Evaluation Tools for Elderly Social and Activities Centre

[poshpusskins]

Hi everyone.

I have recently been appointed to the post of Activities Coordinator for a charity based elderly social day care centre after spending 28 years in the NHS. Our clients are between 80 and 97 years of age and predominantly female (usually 3 gents and 15+ ladies). Many have mobility problems and at least half are mildly cognitively impaired.

Currently the assessment tool used has been Rubric however I am concerned that this is largely aimed at education based evaluation. What does everyone else use? I need something that is user friendly but detailed enough to satisfy social services (as many clients are not self funding).

Thanks in advance

 

[Beate]

Sorry, I have absolutely no idea what Rubric is. If you are asking what activities would be good for someone with dementia, then making music and singing is always popular, as are arts and crafts. OH's Day Centre also does baking and gardening, armchair exercise, bingo and quizzes. There are also massages on offer and nail painting for the ladies. Some of them go to a city farm now and then but you could also bring small animals to them with a handler.

 

[poshpusskins]

Sorry Beate I possibly did not make it clear what I was after. I am fine for actual activities - I have a list as long as my arm (it's getting people motivated to join in that is the problem but thats another story!)

My question is how do activity coordinators evaluate how the clients benefit physically, mentally and emotionally from the activities they offer. As we have clients who's places are funded by the Local Authority we have to provide evidence that we are enhancing their lives by their attendance at the centre.

Rubric is an assessment tool that has been used by the previous Activity Coordinator but I feel it is more suited to an educational enviroment not elderly social care.

 

[Beate]

I hope someone can answer your question but we are carers here and not professionals. I don't know about assessment tools. My layman opinion is, if they are participating and seem to enjoy it!

 

[LYN T]

Perhaps phone Activity Coordinators at Care Homes or Activity Centres? Ask if they use some kind of measure. Or ask your LA what they would recommend. Alternatively, count how many smiles you get as the activity progresses?

 

[stanleypj]

I think you are asking a difficult question. As Lyn suggests you could ask the LA but they might not have a clue either. But maybe as many are only mildly cognitively impaired and the rest may well be OK cognitively you could ask a representative group of them after a few weeks about what they have enjoyed and what the sessions have meant for them and then record or video the answers.

 

[nitram]

"I need something that is user friendly but detailed enough to satisfy social services (as many clients are not self funding)."

I'd go with Beate's suggestion
" My layman opinion is, if they are participating and seem to enjoy it!"
but I would keep a dated log to present to the LA as evidence.

Today Mary, who used to just sit and watch others, got up and really enjoyed dancing, she even asked when the next dance was.

Tom is starting to like musical bingo, I asked him if he would like to run a session, he immediately said 'Yes please, when can I do it?'

Tim and Jane, who used to ignore everybody and everything, now can't wait till I've gone through the news in the paper, I give it to them and they settle down to do the crossword together.

 

[pippop1]

I used to teach adults with learning difficulties maths and English and was required to have feedback from them on what they thought of each class.

I had a sheet with 3 simple drawings of faces and asked them afterwards what they felt about the class. 1) happy face, 2) neutral face 3) sad face.

Most selected the happy face.

You could design a different one for each person using photos/downloaded from Google Images so that it meant something to them e.g.male one for the men, female ones for the women and so on.

You could put the information into a graph or chart for the Council every month.

 

[mancmum]

This is a really important query

My father attends a memory cafe and the staff and volunteers are very pleased that he appears to enjoy everything they do....BUT actually I think some of the enjoyment is tempered with politeness.

If activities are to be person centred providers really ought to know something about their client's former lives.

There is a lot of community singing which my father used to absolutely hate with a vengeance. I know about the research and can believe it is good for some people but the music that was part of his life was classical and in two years of attending noone has ever put any classical music on.

What would someone's life be like if they didn't have dementia...to what extent do the activities allow someone to participate in activities they might have undertaken without dementia. To what extent (e.g. exercise) does an activity have value because it improves someone's general health. There are several scales of value that should be considered.

I am eternally grateful to the volunteers but I think there should be more finding out about what people used to like in order to truly evaluate how well activities are serving the target audience.

How can anyone complete a standard end of session happy sheet unless they can remember what they did. My Dad can't retain a one off memory for more than about 30 seconds.

 

[pippop1]

I guess you could ask them how they are feeling immediately after the session as I have often read on here that those with dementia may not remember words or what they did but may remember how it made them feel?