Investigating the Feasibility of Multisensory Environments to Improve the Assisted Bathing Experience for Veterans With Dementia: A Clinical Trial

Objectives: This evidence-based design clinical trial assessed the feasibility of a multisensory environment (MSE) using aromatherapy, color-changing lights, and music as a behavioral intervention to calm Veterans with dementia during assisted bathing to improve the patient experience. Background: The number of Veterans with dementia is growing rapidly, along with the associated debilitating behavior challenges. The severity of these distressed behaviors that predominantly occur at bath time often necessitates costly, dangerous sedatives. Feasibility studies of nonpharmacological behavioral interventions during bathing for people with dementia are urgently needed, and research supports MSE as a viable solution. Method: Using an A–B, multiple baselines across participants design, this study tracked operational behaviors of four Veterans with dementia during bathing without and with an MSE intervention. Sessions were provided and recorded by a dedicated team of five nurses, so the study team could analyze the Veterans’ operational behaviors to understand the impact of individualized MSE during both baseline and intervention phases. Results: The results support the feasibility of MSE as a helpful, nonpharmacological behavioral intervention for Veterans with dementia during bathing. All participants experienced an overall increase in duration of positive operational behaviors and an overall decrease in duration of negative operational behaviors. Conclusions: Healthcare environments are integral components in dementia care and the use of MSE within the bathing setting appears to improve not only operational behaviors but the overall bathing experience.

Evaluating the Impact of a Multisensory Environment on Target Behaviors of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background: Worldwide, children are increasingly being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The case of South Korea is not exceptional. One of the core symptoms of children with ASD is sensory reactivity issues, such as an unusual interest in the sensory aspects of the environment. One promising development in sensory enrichment for individuals with ASD is a multisensory environment (MSE). Objectives: This study investigated the influence of MSE on the target behaviors of children with ASD with different sensory characteristics in the case of South Korea. Methods: A multiple treatment design {A-B-C-D (B + C) phases} was implemented to observe the six target behaviors of three children with ASD. The sensory environmental intervention focusing on visual and auditory stimuli was manipulated as a stimulating MSE or a relaxing MSE depending on the sensory profile of each participant. The analysis was undertaken using visual inspection with data patterns and graph slopes, which is a customary method of analyzing the single-subject design data. In addition, the means and standard deviations of the two target behaviors of each participant were analyzed together. Results: The findings reveal that MSE interventions positively affected the target behaviors of children with ASD with diverse sensory characteristics. The stimulating MSE created by the integration of visual and auditory stimuli was the most effective intervention for the participants with hypo-visual and hypo-auditory sensitivities in this study. Conclusions: The MSE could be meaningful as a nonpharmaceutical therapy that could influence the daily behaviors of children with ASD.

A Study of the Effects of Swedish Massage in a Multisensory Environment on the Health of Women in their 40s and 50s

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the physical and psychological effects of foot massage for middle-aged women in the snoezelen space.Methods: Participants were randomly divided into four groups of 30 persons each: the snoezelen foot massage group (MSE+FM, treatment group), general foot massage group (FM, comparison group I), snoezelen group (MSE, comparison group II), and untreated (CG, control group). The foot massage program was operated at snoezelen space for 30 min once, once a week, and four times for four weeks.Results: Muscle tone was lowest in the treatment group, followed by the comparison group I and comparison II; whereas, the control group appeared to have the highest (F=52.686, p<0.001). Psychological stress was lowest in the treatment group, followed by the comparison group I and comparison II, while the control group appeared to have the highest (F=141.428, p<0.001). Psychological well-being was highest in the treatment group, followed by the comparison group II, comparison group I, and control group (F=428.022, p<0.001). The perceived health status was highest in the treatment group and comparison group I followed by comparison group II, and the control group (F=224.395, p<0.001).Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that Swedish foot massage alone are recognized as an excellent alternative therapy; however, it is thought that if the snoezelen space is mediated here, it will have a synergistic effect on physical and psychological improvement.

Vandalism as Symbolic Reparation

The 2018 anti-government protests in Nicaragua generated a vast amount of photographic imagery, video documentation, and visual graphics. On the street and via social media, everyday citizens engaged with this material, activating a multisensory environment. The production of visual content was nonetheless accompanied by iconoclastic gestures; vandalism became a means of reclaiming Nicaragua’s revolutionary past and its symbols, while deploying them towards the making of a yet to be imagined political future. Drawing on examples from Chile and Mexico, the article argues that acts of vandalism may be understood as symbolically reparative. The materiality of the protests, manifested through image, trace, gesture, and sound (slogans, chants, noise) becomes a means towards analysing, ethnographically, revolutionary imaginaries caught within the flux of an unsettled present.

Proprioception in Immersive Virtual Reality

Currently, in connection with the advent of virtual reality (VR) technologies, methods that recreate sensory sensations are rapidly developing. Under the conditions of VR, which is an immersive environment, a variety of multimodal sensory experiences can be obtained. It is urgent to create explicit immersive environments that allow maximizing the full potential of VR technology. Activation of the proprioceptive sensory system, coupled with the activation of the visual analyzer system, allows you to achieve sensations of interaction with VR objects, identical to the sensations of the real physical world. Today, the activation of proprioceptive sensations is achieved using various devices, including robotic ones, which are not available for use in routine medical practice. The immersive multisensory environment makes it possible to significantly personalize the rehabilitation process, ensuring its continuity and effectiveness at various stages of the pathological process and varying degrees of severity of physical disorders, while significantly reducing the burden on the healthcare system by automating the rehabilitation process and objectively assessing the effectiveness. Further development and increased availability of VR technologies and devices that allow achieving an increase in immersion due to sensory immersion will be in great demand as a technology that allows teaching patients motor skills.

Changes in emotions and perceived stress following time spent in an artistically designed multisensory environment

Self-management strategies that enhance positive emotions are considered most effective to cope with stress and maintain good mental health and well-being. An artistically designed multisensory environment, The Sensory-Art Space (SAS), was installed in a university in NSW Australia as a new self-management intervention. The design of the SAS was informed by evidence regarding the benefits of viewing art, experiencing nature and accessing sensory rooms.A pilot pre–post intervention study measured changes in affect and perceived stress in 224 participants who spent time in the SAS. Descriptive statistics were completed on the individual affective states, and paired sample t-tests were used to determine changes in Positive and Negative Affect (PANAS-X) and perceived stress (Visual Analogue Scale).The Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that negative affect reduced, z=−10.23 (p<0.001), and positiveaffect increased, z=−2.57 (p=0.01), following spending time in the SAS. In addition, stress levels reduced after time spent in the SAS, z=−11.29 (p<0.0001).Self-management benefits were found following time in the SAS and future implications for public health and well-being are discussed.

Receptive Arts Engagement for Health: A Holistic and Trans-Disciplinary Approach to Creating a Multisensory Environment

Multisensory environments are increasingly being used in health care settings with reported benefits including relaxation, supporting self-regulation, enhancing mood, and reducing chronic pain. However, limited research exists that explores the impact of multisensory environment design on engagement. In response, this article presents a qualitative study exploring the creative design attributes that cultivated participant engagement and shaped their overall experience of spending time in an artistically created multisensory environment: the Sensory-Art Space (SAS). A maximum variation approach to sampling was used to select 18 participants. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews and were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim before being analyzed thematically. Our findings produced three key themes. The first two themes were: the ambience of everything and variation: it’s always my choice, which identified aspects of the artistic design that fostered engagement and the sense of connection and ownership of the SAS captured in the third theme, a space that’s yours. Based on analysis of participant responses, creative design considerations were identified that could assist the development of future multisensory spaces and highlighted the importance of a holistic and curatorial approach to enhance engagement value.