The use of life story work in an age inclusive dementia service: a participatory action research study.

Aim and objectives: The aim of this qualitative study was to examine how life story work can be embedded into an age-inclusive dementia service. The objectives were to: explore the cultural and organisational changes required for practitioners to internalise life story work as part of delivering high-quality dementia care; determine how the use of a life story profile can be embedded into an age-inclusive dementia service; develop a model of service redesign which facilitates the introduction of good practice in dementia care; and analyse the essential and desirable components of life story work from the perspective of the person, their carers and practitioners. Methodology: An inter-disciplinary participatory action research group was established to reintroduce life story work. This group met on eight occasions. These meetings were audio recorded, and notes made by an independent observer on the group processes. Field notes were also compiled by the researcher. Data collection further included interviews with research group members (5), people with dementia (4) and carers (3). The data were coded using Miles and Huberman’s (1994) framework. Findings: Four themes were identified: ‘Life story work is a mechanism for resolving inflexible paradigms in working practice’; ‘Life story work is a means of bringing people together in a collaborative manner’; ‘Life story work is a strategy for providing post-diagnostic support’ and ‘Life story work is a framework for managing boundaries between staff and service users’. Conclusions: This study suggested that a new ‘PIC’ model (participatory action research, innovation and creativity and cultural change) is recommended to enhance the delivery of person-centred care. This model assimilates the essential LSW strategies as proposed by the informants, the positive outcomes of undertaking LSW as identified in the literature and a framework for locality-based change management. When implemented, the PIC model will result in high-quality dementia care.