Effects of Humanitude Care on People with Dementia and Caregivers: A Scoping Review

Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to comprehensively review the research literature

to provide an overview of the effects of Humanitude on people with dementia

and their caregivers.

Background: Humanitude is a relationship-centred

and compassionate care approach

that focuses on improving the communication between people with dementia and

their caregivers. There is a lack of updated and comprehensive synthesis on the evidence

of the effects of Humanitude in dementia care.

Design and Methods: This paper adopted the scoping review framework by Arksey

and O'Malley. We searched through the following databases: Pubmed, CINAHL,

EMBASE, PsycINFO, ProQuest, Scopus and Web of Science from its inception to 3

September 2021. Three investigators independently screened the titles and abstracts

and assessed the full-text

articles for eligibility. The PRISMA-ScR

checklist was included

in this scoping review.

Results: We retrieved 1317 articles from databases and grey sources. Eleven studies

were included after the screening. The synthesised results suggest that Humanitude

can reduce agitation and psychological symptoms and improve the general well-being

of people with dementia. Humanitude also has positive effects in improving care communication,

empathy, job satisfaction and reducing burnout among caregivers.

Conclusion: Humanitude shows the potential for positive effects on people with

dementia and their caregivers. However, most studies did not include a comparator

group and could not provide rigorous findings as compared to randomised controlled

trials. There is a need for randomised controlled studies to demonstrate the effectiveness

of Humanitude on people with dementia and their caregivers.

Relevance for Clinical Practice: This paper reviewed the literature on all types of

publications that examine the use of Humanitude in people with dementia and their

caregivers. Thus, it provided an up-to-

date

overview of the effects of Humanitude to

inform clinical practice.