Although the introduction of dolls into care environments has been evident and written about for a
number of years (Ehrenfeld and Bergman, 1995), it
remains a subject of little systematic research. The
Newcastle Challenging Behaviour Service has undertaken a systematic investigation into the impact of doll
therapy, publishing guidelines on the introduction and
use of dolls. They used clinical observations to establish their findings, and found that 69% of care staff
reported benefits to residents’ wellbeing after the dolls
were introduced (Mackenzie et al, 2007).
Ellingford et al (2007) carried out an audit of case
notes of residents in four care homes 3 months before