some aspects of earlier lifestyles for the ageing community and provides a variety of experiences including increased sensory, physical and emotional stimuli. Evidence is emerging that the garden environment provides a calming effect and reduces agitation. Residents with dementia, no matter how significant, are responding positively. Residents have access to fresh nutritious food and are gaining a sense of achievement from meaningful and productive activities. community links and interdisciplinary studies has been identified. The implications of these activities are that this will lead to an improved lifestyle for residents and others. University of Western Sydney Shameran Slewa-Younan University of Western Sydney that dramatherapy is a promising treatment for enhancing the Quality of Life (QoL) of people with dementia. A two-arm study was conducted, using a mixed method approach to evaluate the effect of drama therapy on the QoL of a small number of elderly people with mild and moderate dementia, principally Alzheimer's Disease (AD), living in the community, over a period of five months. The dramatherapy group was compared with a group whose participants watched films over the same period. The research was conducted at Alzheimer's Australia, Ryde and Newcastle. and post sixteen group meetings. A secondary aim was to establish an evidence-based evaluation of the use of drama therapy with people with dementia, as opposed to the less expressive, more passive activity of film- watching. Carers were also involved in the assessment process, although the scoring of the scale used, the Quality of Life, Alzheimer's Disease (QOLAD), is weighted in favour of the persons with dementia. Although not statistically significant, the drama therapy group achieved a higher score than the movie- watching group. of the study, using phenomenological approach. The Creative-Expressive Abilities Assessment (CEAA) was also applied to the dramatherapy group, where observations were made after each session. Triangulation was used in the examination of both types of data and the presentation of findings. Further work is recommended with greater numbers to evaluate the dramatherapy impact on quality of life (QoL) in this population. with The Arts in Psychotherapy Journal, USA.) Service Access Liaison Officer Aboriginal/ Consultancy, Alzheimer's Australia Vic communities in rural and remote areas of Western Australia is 12.4 percent in people 45 years and over, a rate nearly five times higher than the general Australian population. What the rates of dementia are in Indigenous people |