Snoezelen within a palliative care day setting: A randomized controlled trial investigating the potential

Snoezelen environments are becoming increasingly popular in health care. An increasing body of evidence suggests that Snoezelen provides an environment of calm and refreshment, similar to relaxation. The aims of this study were to investigate the use of Snoezelen within palliative day-care and to explore the feasibility of investigating Snoezelen within palliative day-care using a randomized controlled trial. A randomized controlled trial was conducted within a palliative care day setting to investigate the effects of Snoezelen compared against a normal "quiet room" setting. Following screening for anxiety 26 patients attending day-care were recruited and randomly assigned into either a control or experimental group. Outcome Measures Assessments of anxiety and depression using the HAD's and quality of life using the EORTC QLQ-C30 were assessed prior to and following intervention in order to determine any effects upon psychological distress and well-being. The results indicated a significant reduction in anxiety with the experimental group following the sessions (P = 0.01), but no changes were observed in any of the quality of life subscales. It should be noted that there were some differences between the groups prior to intervention in two of the quality of life subscales. There was no significant correlation within the groups. Information collected during semi-structured interviews support the potential of Snoezelen for promoting relaxation. It was concluded that Snoezelen is feasible for use with this patient group and recommendations were made for further research in the area.