Dementia Support Line
Research
What is namaste care?
Arwen Wilcock, Research Translation Manager at Alzheimer's Society, explains Namaste care and the possible benefits for people living with dementia in the UK.
It’s no secret that providing care for people in the later stages of their dementia is an extremely complex task, particularly for staff in care homes.
The level of care in care homes is often not based on the best or most recent evidence. This is why we launched our ‘Implementation’ grant scheme, which aims to help the researchers better understand what will improve people's experiences in care homes.
Namaste care (pronounced Na-mass-tay) is the subject of our very first Implementation research projects. It aims to enable staff to cater to the personal needs of residents with advanced dementia, focusing on the person rather than the process and protocol.
It was a privilege to attend the recent launch event for the Namaste care research project, led by Professor Dawn Brooker at the University of Worcester.
What is Namaste care?
Namaste care changes the focus and structure of care given to residents at the later stages of their dementia.
At the launch event, Dawn gave the example of 'giving a bath for the pleasure and enjoyment of having a bath rather than focusing on a bath as a process to get someone clean'.
The manner of Namaste care is described as ‘holistic’ because it is incorporated into all aspects of daily life and involves a range of physical, sensory and emotional approaches.
These approaches support residents with advanced dementia in many activities, for example managing pain, making sure they are getting enough to eat and drink and use of music to manage anxiety and stress.
What are the benefits of Namaste care?
Using the Namaste care approach has produced reports of ‘small miracles’ in some of the care homes in the USA where it has been trialled.
These include residents who had become non-verbal beginning to speak, visible signs of anxiety disappearing and residents laughing at bubbles blown around them. This was a significant change from people being isolated in rooms or being left in front of the television.
There is evidence that Namaste care improves quality of life not only for residents but families and care home staff.
Some care home staff in the USA have reported that using the programme has helped them to feel more empowered and satisfied with their job.
What is our research on Namaste care?
As an implementation research project, the researchers will aim to understand how to introduce the Namaste programme into UK care homes. It will focus on how to adapt the programme to improve quality of life for people with the complex needs associated with advanced dementia.
The project team will work with care providers and people living with dementia to provide valuable insights to support delivery of the Namaste programme. They will also create a professional network that can share learning; the aim is for this network to continue beyond the research project.
What do people affected by dementia think about the research?
All research projects supported by Alzheimer’s Society involve people affected by dementia. This includes regularly monitoring the progress of the project.
One of the project’s monitors, Peter, said:
‘This project offers promising improvements in person care in care homes. Research in care and services allows scientific evaluation of interventions by practical implementation and leads to convincing care home management of the advantages of adopting the practice.'
Join Dementia Research
Join Dementia Research is a UK-based service that allows people to register their interest in taking part in dementia research.
Sombrachaney
saysMel Ghouri
saysAnonymous
saysHi Mel,
Thanks for your comment.
Namaste Care was not developed by Alzheimer's Society, it was developed in the US by a social worker and author called Joyce Simard.
We funded work in the UK that was carried out by Dwan Brooker and Isabelle Ingram. This work assessed the benefit of this care technique for people living with dementia and supported its implementation and dissemination.
We cannot find any reference on the Namaste Care website as to why they use the word 'Namaste', but there is a contact us page, where you can get in touch with your question: https://namastecare.com/contact/
There is also a helpful video where Dawn talks about the technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt-e3UGpXBE.
We hope this helps for now.
Alzheimer's Society research team
Heather Warner
sayspamela towers
saysJennifer
saysI am currently working within a busy NHS ward in which most patients are those who are living well with dementia at a transitional point of their lives and I am also keen to implement some ideas of the Namaste programme in hope to improve patients experiences of services and maintain quality of life. I have recently come across the idea of the Namaste program though studying a palliative care module and truly respect the ideology "to honour the spirit within".
I would really love to hear ideas as to how others have implemented the namaste programme and any challenges they faced, how it has improved the care experience and useful resources that I can share with colleagues to spread the word and introduce the idea. I have also requested some information and leaflets from "playlist for life" which I am exited to get staff patients and family members involved in.
Keri barker
saysHi get family to bring in music and headphones through a simple CD player or mP3 player that can be used by staff, lots of tranquil music to help soothe anxiety or relax at night time
Heidi
saysHi could you forward me more details on namaste care, I work as activities coordinator, our residents have dementia,
Regards heidi
Ann Nolan
saysHi there,
I have recently returned to the UK after ten years managing care homes in Australia and New Zealand and now I am a Care Home Manager in Chester. We have quite a high number of residents who are bedbound and in the last stages of dementia, I am very interested in Namaste Care, can you please forward information to me regarding this project.
Hi Ann,
Thanks for getting in touch. We’re pleased to hear you’re keen to learn more about Namaste care.
You might like to read this article (published February 2018) that focuses on volunteers helping to provide Namaste care in London: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/dementia-together-magazine/feb-march-2018…
More recently, we published an update (in March 2019) that you might find interesting. This article explains what the researchers learned, and explains why Alzheimer’s Society are further funding this project: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/Care-and-cure-magazine/spring-19/namaste-…
Later this month, there’s a free event happening at the University of Worcester Arena, which you might be keen to attend: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/celebration-of-namaste-care-tickets-6200…
We hope this helps.
-
Alzheimer’s Society blog team
Darlene Pettigrew
saysI am a care home manager looking to start, promote and change the approach for caring of the elderly in one of my units within the home. I am fascinated and excited about the namaste approach.
David Robinson
saysI, like Darlene Pettigrew, am about to start as a Care Home Manager in Norfolk UK. As many residents are living with dementia I would like to change our approach to encourage positive change. Are there Namaste resources and training available in the UK to make lasting changes?
Many thanks for your interest in Namaste Care. An Alzheimer’s Society-funded research project is coming to an end in the next few months. As part of this project a Community of Practice has been created, which is free to join and puts you in touch with other Namaste Care practitioners. The findings from the research, guidance on implementing Namaste Care and opportunities for training can all be found there.
https://adscommunities.ning.com/ .
You simply apply for membership and this should be approved within a few days. If you require any further information about the research project please contact Isabelle Latham, the project lead on [email protected] .
Melissa St. Louis
saysI work in a senior acute psych unit as a RN in michigan and realized while reading this my team of coworkers do a lot of these same ideas and it works very well. i knew i was working with a great team of docs and nurses , but this still will be hood to bring up in meetings
Annette Knott
saysI am a ward manager in an NHS hospital and have recently introduced Namaste on my ward (female organic inpatient ward) We've been working closely with our local hospice and myself and my team have been using Namaste with some, good, clinical effect. I am trying to promote the use of Namaste on the other older adult units within the Trust. I'd love to hear of other healthcare professionals/carers/relatives thoughts and experiences on using Namaste and the impact it's had when used -good or bad.
Sarah Sloman
saysHi Annette how are you applying this model to your NHS ward? I work in a community hospital, predominantly elderly care, rehab and palliative care. Would love to introduce this to our ward and continue to enhance inpatient stay.
Lynsey Homer
saysHello,
I would be very interested in implementing this on the ward I work within a small community hospital. Did you get a response and any idea how I can find any more info?
Roland McMorran
saysGreat to see the tide turning toward well-being focused care instead of symptom focus care.
We are making sure this happens for the design of caring environments too. Standard care environment design models have nothing to do with wellbeing or person centred care, or relationship centred care. We have a new evidence based way of putting together caring environments that is well-being based, person centred and community centred.
We are offering presentations.
Wish you all well with the great Namaste Care research.
[email protected]