I can't get the JAMA article without a subscription, but there's a good summary at seniorjournal.com: bright lights have (again) been shown to reduce symptoms of dementia, such as agitation, depression, and poor sleep. (I call these "duh" studies because the results should be fairly obvious, but it's good that these studies are being done to confirm and quantify the benefits of health interventions, to encourage investment in implementation.) I saw a good presentation on the importance of lighting design in senior care settings at the Pioneer Network conference in April, too.
I'm pretty passionate about the lighting issue, since managing a 27-bed dementia unit in an assisted living in 2001-2003 and gathering data from our QA meetings that over the course of a year -- in which the building (general AL and Special Care) switched over from yellow incandescent lighting to white lighting in our hallways and common areas -- demonstrated a decline in falls throughout the building. Then when we were bought by Another Assisted Living Company, their regional management team came in and the first thing they wanted to do was go back to yellow lighting because they thought the white lighting looked "institutional". I tried to show them the data and explained that the next project was to paint the dining room for more contrast so the residents weren't lost in a beige blur when we sat them down to eat (so they'd be better oriented and eat more), but I was just a peon manager who had issues with their Vision, so I was moved on.
I wonder how long it's going to take the senior living industry to catch up...
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