Is Dementia Care Mapping an adequate methodological tool for care quality research?
• Chris Edwards, Senior Nurse Manager Oxfrodshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust Quality of Care in private sector and NHS facilities for people with dementia: cross sectional survey Editor- Ballard et als paper (BMJ, 25th August 2001) draws conclusions from observation of resident activities in dementia care establishments that few experienced specialist professionals would disagree with – that standards in both private and NHS institutions are poor, and urgent attention is required to elevate standards. However, the methodology of the research contains a flaw, which lessens the significance of the findings and is potentially misleading if service providers use the dementia care index alone as an indicator of improved quality of care. Dementia care mapping measures the subjective experience of the service user across three dimensions, type of activity, degree of comfort, and time. Standardisation of data is achieved through thorough accredited training and the ‘dementia care index’ is de
