ACU to study impact of TV on people with dementia

20 Jan 2016

By The Record

About 20 seniors from four Villa Maria Catholic Homes (VMCH) aged-care residences in Wantirna, Balwyn, Clayton, Sunshine North in Melbourne will be observed for six months by students undertaking their Masters of Psychology at Australian Catholic University. Photo: CNS.

Two Catholic institutions will participate in a ground-breaking new study investigating the impact of TV exposure on people with dementia, reports the Herald Sun.

About 20 seniors from four Villa Maria Catholic Homes (VMCH) aged-care residences in Wantirna, Balwyn, Clayton, Sunshine North in Melbourne will be observed for six months by students undertaking their Masters of Psychology at Australian Catholic University.

Australian Catholic University Professor Colleen Doyle has a partnership with Villa Maria Catholic Homes.

She said the students would investigate the impact of television exposure – including its content and the length of time watched – on the behaviour and sleep quality of people with dementia.

“I think there is a lot of research that has been done looking at children watching violent video games and whether watching TV is bad for kids, and whether watching screens late at night interrupts your sleep,” Prof Doyle said.

“But nobody has really thought about whether that may be the case for older people as well, and particularly for people with cognitive impairment who might not be able to process what they are watching as easily as we would.”

The students will write up their findings as part of a research thesis and will present them to the aged-care industry.

The project is being conducted in collaboration with St Catherine’s Aged Care Lifestyle co-ordinator Sue Sammartino, whose observations of residents becoming upset or falling asleep while watching free-to-air TV led to the creation of the project.