Dementia Care Mapping


There is much rhetoric about "changing the culture of care" and "person-centered care" within the field of dementia care. Yet, person centered care without dementia care mapping is too vague and lacks empirical foundation. Dementia care mapping without person centered care philosophy is merely a set of techniques and has no coherence.


• Dementia care mapping (DCM) is a new method for evaluating and improving the care that is given to persons with dementia in formal care settings.
• It is of value to all those concerned with quality assurance and improving dementia care.
• Assesses care from the point of view of the person with dementia.
• Is the first systematic method to have been devised for looking at the details of the care process.
• Supplements standard approaches of evaluation which focus mainly on the care structure.
• Involves making detailed observations and recordings in dementia care settings.
• Result is a dementia care "map" which shows in summary.
• How each client fared.
• How care was distributed among the group.
• Notable characteristics of the style of care.
• An overall index of the general quality of care.
• May compare different schemes of care.
• Look at a particular scheme at different points in time.
• After data analysis, immediate feedback can be given to staff so that existing practices can be improved.
• Redefines expectations of good quality care.
• Forces us to look at individualizing care and get away from the "herd mentality" of care.


The DCM method was developed by the late Tom Kitwood and is continually being refined with validity and reliability studies by the group Mr. Kitwood founded, The Bradford Dementia Group of the University of Bradford, Bradford, England.