Conceptualising what we mean by ‘wellbeing’ in the dementias

The term ‘wellbeing’ has experienced a relatively rapid introduction into the lexicon and policy of healthcare in the UK and other countries. Wellbeing research now occurs across different disciplines and clinical populations. Less well understood, however, is how wellbeing is conceptualised, measured and recognised in the dementias and during art activities and how this understanding might impact research and future practice.

This paper will firstly, review prevailing wellbeing conceptualisations in order to understand their relevance to dementia and secondly, discuss novel psychological and physiological approaches used to measure and observe wellbeing in art and heritage activities in this population.