The Namaste Care Intervention to improve the quality of dying for people with advanced dementia living in care homes. A feasibility study for a cluster randomised controlled trial

Many people with advanced dementia live and die in nursing care homes. The quality of life, care and dying experienced by residents can vary. Namaste Care is an approach to care that could provide high quality care for patients with dementia. The initial research suggests Namaste Care provides comfort for people with advanced dementia and increases staff and family satisfaction with care. Further research is still required to see how the benefits of Namaste Care compare with other approaches to care for people with advanced dementia.

The Namaste Care Trial is a 3 phase research study which is being led by Professor Katharine Froggatt at Lancaster University.

Phase 1: Review
Undertake interviews with experts in the delivery of Namaste Care. Search for literature to identify which elements of Namaste Care work best for people with advanced dementia within nursing care homes.

Phase 2: Intervention Refinement
Conduct workshops with family members of people with advanced dementia who are living in nursing care homes and nursing care home staff. Prepare appropriate resource materials to support the delivery of Namaste Care in nursing care homes.

Phase 3: Feasibility Trial
Conduct a feasibility trial in eight nursing care homes. Six care homes will be randomly selected to use Namaste Care. Two care homes will be randomly selected to use their normal practice of care.
Each person with dementia will receive Namaste Care seven days a week with two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. The feasibility of delivering the Namaste Care intervention and undertaking research on the intervention in the nursing care homes will be assessed using surveys, observation and interviews.