The implementation of snoezelen in psychogeriatric care: an evaluation through the eyes of caregivers

Many intervention studies lack an investigation of the extent to which the intervention was implemented as intended, which makes outcome measures difficult to interpret. The aim of the present study was to gain insight into the implementation process of snoezelen in 24-h dementia care. The intervention in each of six experimental wards comprised training sessions in ‘snoezelen for caregivers’, evaluated using a questionnaire. To study experience with implementation, the follow-up and general meetings (20 in total) were attended and semi-structured interviews (six in total) were conducted. The results indicated that the implementation of snoezelen effected a change from task-oriented care to resident-oriented care. The nursing assistants also experienced changes at the resident level and organisational changes. However, the lack of intervention in the organisational structure and obstructive factors such as understaffing seemed to get in the way of the integration of multi-sensory stimulation in the daily care in two of the six wards.