[Effects from the Person Centered-Care Model on quality of life of cognitive impaired persons from gerontological centers]

Introduction: The Model of Person Centered Care has attracted increasing interest for use in gerontology centers. Therefore, the contributions about its impact are scarce in our context. The objective of this paper is to establish the impact that the interventions associated with the Model of Person Centered Care in the «Etxean Ondo» Project have on the quality of life of residents with cognitive impairment.

Material and methods: One hundred and ninetten residents with cognitive impairment were selected: 59 in the control group and 60 in the experimental group. Subjects in each group were sorted by cognitive impairment: mild or severe. Changes were implemented in the physical and organizational environments for the promotion of autonomy and wellbeing. Quality of life was assessed before and 6 months after intervention using the Fumat Scales (mild cognitive impairment) and Qualid (severe cognitive impairment). The t-Student test was used for comparison of means.

Results: In intergroup comparisons, significant differences in the Fumat Scale for the control group with mild cognitive impairment were initially identified. These differences were not recorded in the post assessment. The experimental group with severe cognitive impairment was significantly improved in the Qualid Scale post assessment. In intragroup comparisons, significant improvements were evident in the quality of life of experimental subjects, both with severe cognitive impairment (Qualid) and mild (Fumat).

Conclusions: The findings support the effectiveness of the interventions and identify methodological and conceptual issues that have been considered to analyze the Model of Person Centered Care efects.