The Effect of Snoezelen on Psychotropic Drug Use of
Nursing Home Residents with Dementia

Boyle, G. and Bell, J. and Pollock, C. (2003) The Effect of Snoezelen on Psychotropic Drug Use of Nursing Home Residents with Dementia, in 38th APS Annual Conference, pp. 29-34, Perth Western Australia, 2 - 5 October 2003. The Australian Psychological Society Ltd, Melbourne, Victoria Australia.

Better Living Through Snoezelen at Beth Israel New York

Though Snoezelen is, in fact, a new method for treating dementia'autism, say, or Alzheimer's it's a very gentle technique, with no pain and no side effects.

Multi-Sensory Stimulation in 24-hour dementia care; Effects of snoezelen on residents and caregivers.

Julia C.M. van Weert

This study indicates that the implementation of snoezelen in 24-h daily care improves the quality of life of demented nursing home residents and the quality of working life of nurses in psychogeriatric care.

With a Dutch Summary to download (inclusief een Nederlandstalige samenvatting)

This product is developed in the framework of the graduation project (MSc) of M.D. de Groot to complete her study Industrial Design Technology at the Delft University of Technology. During this project, which was carried out at the company Barry Emons Aangepast Spelmateriaal B.V. (Adapted Activity Materials Barry Emons) 'snoezel' material is developed for demented elderly men. 'Snoezelen' is a term used for stimulating the senses of demented people in such a way that they experience a state of rest and safety. Starting from this restful state of being, attempts to stimulate the mind will be more successful. By stimulating the brain dementia is controllable to some extent.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Imagine for a moment what it would be like to suddenly be transported into a foreign world where almost nothing was comprehensible. The people you talked to and the language they spoke--everything an unending stream of incomprehensible, sometimes frightening, activity. For many people living with conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, this is a daily reality. Now, psychologists are reaching back to the psychedelic and "mind expanding" 1960s and updating research on sensory deprivation with the hope of offering relief to people suffering from this type of dementia.

To help patients with dementia or Alzheimer's disease, St. Camillus Health Center has created a room that combines soft music, aromatherapy, textured objects and colored lighting designed to stimulate the senses.

Imagine being in a room with colored lights dancing across the wall and ceiling, the sounds of the sea playing in the background and the smell of lavender in the air.

Why this activity?

For elderly people babies create a special emotion. It stimulates memories and feelings from past times. It is an excellent method to make contact with your clients and to find an entrance into their experiences.

Background: Snoezelen, multi-sensory stimulation, provides sensory stimuli to stimulate the primary senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell, through the use of lighting effects, tactile surfaces, meditative music and the odour of relaxing essential oils (Pinkney 1997). The clinical application of snoezelen has been extended from the field of learning disability to dementia care over the past decade. The rationale for its use lies in providing a sensory environment that places fewer demands on intellectual abilities but capitalizes on the residual sensorimotor abilities of people with dementia (e.g. Buettner 1999, Hope 1998). Practitioners are keen to use snoezelen in dementia care, and some encouraging results have been documented in the area of promoting adaptive behaviours (e.g. Baker 1997, Long 1992, Spaull 1998). However, the clinical application of snoezelen often varies in form, nature, principles and procedures. Such variations not only make examination of the therapeutic values of Snoezelen difficult, but also impede the clinical development of snoezelen in dementia care. A systematic review of evidence for the efficacy of snoezelen in the care of people with dementia is therefore needed to inform future clinical applications and research directions.