Mapping empirical experiences of Tom Kitwood's framework of person-centred care for persons with dementia in institutional settings. A scoping review

The Perspective of Nurses and Healthcare Providers on the use of Television Videos with People with Moderate to Severe Dementia

BACKGROUND

Nurses and healthcare providers need practical tools to deliver person-centred care in hospitals and long-term care homes. Few non-pharmacological interventions are designed to meet the needs of people with moderate to severe dementia. Dementia-friendly television videos (TV videos) offer a familiar stimulation with the potential for meaningful engagement in the relational space of technology. TV videos refer to moving visuals with audio that can be shown on TV and other devices. They can be used for different purposes for people with dementia, such as stimulating memories and facilitating expressions.

PURPOSE

This study aims to understand the perspectives of nurses and healthcare providers on the potential function and practice considerations of using TV videos for people with moderate to severe dementia.

METHODS

We conducted five focus groups with 23 nurses and healthcare providers in a long-term care home and a geriatric hospital unit. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and guided by Kitwood's person-centred care model.

RESULTS

Our analysis identified five themes about the use of TV videos: (1) calm the person with dementia who is in emotional distress, (2) form connections with the person with dementia, (3) bring people with dementia together, (4) facilitate the Person's Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), (5) help the person connect with their past.

CONCLUSION

TV videos should be designed to match the person's cognitive abilities, interests, and cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Our findings supplemented Kitwood's model by identifying the person's cultural and language needs.

Employee Experiences Providing Nutritional Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nutritional care is a critical, yet often overlooked component of quality care in long-term care (LTC) that is linked to culture, socialization, and residents' psychological and physiological well-being. Given that several COVID-19 infection control protocols affected nutritional care, this study aimed to understand employees' experiences of these changes. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with Saskatchewan healthcare employees from several disciplines, all of whom had a role in supporting nutritional care in LTC. The resulting interview transcripts were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three main themes characterized the interviewees' reflections: regression to an institutional mealtime environment, unrealistic expectations, and concern for residents. Given the centrality of nutritional care to quality of life, strategies tailored to support staff in providing relationship-centered nutritional care must be further articulated to maintain standards of care for LTC residents in future outbreaks and epidemics.

Nursing home managers' descriptions of multi-level barriers to leading person-centred care: A content analysis

BACKGROUND

Research suggests that person-centred care can be beneficially implemented and sustained, even though barriers remain that prevent uptake in clinical practice. Understanding barriers to person-centred care seems important, as this has an impact on care practices and resident outcomes. Moreover, there is limited knowledge about nursing home managers' descriptions of barriers when leading person-centred care.

OBJECTIVES

To explore barriers to leading person-centred care as narrated by nursing home managers.

METHODS

A descriptive qualitative design was used to collect data using individual interviews with 12 nursing home managers in highly person-centred nursing homes. Data were analysed using content analysis.

RESULTS

Multi-level barriers to leading person-centred care were identified on the (1) person level, (2) team level and (3) organisational level. Placing professional and family considerations ahead of resident considerations was described as a barrier on the personal level (1). Also, staff's divergent care values, processes, and priorities together with turnover and low foundational knowledge were identified as barriers on the team level (2). On an organisational level (3), constrained finances, functional building design and group level rostering were identified as barriers.

CONCLUSION

Multi-level barriers influence nursing home managers' ability to lead and promote person-centred care. Promoting the development of person-centred practices requires efforts to eliminate barriers on person, team and organisational level.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Identifying and overcoming barriers at various levels in nursing home care has the potential to promote person-centred practices. This study can inform stakeholders and policymakers of challenges and complexities in person-centred practices. Multi-level strategies are needed to target challenges at person-, team- and organisational level when striving to develop person-centred care.

Threats to personhood from within the family? A study of family caregivers of people with dementia in the Chinese context

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Dementia care creates ethical and legal dilemmas due to the struggle to balance the quality of care and personhood. Disagreement and conflict in caregiving relationships are common. However, limited attention has been given to particular stressful circumstances, such as care practice and decision disagreements. Moreover, the cultural context of personhood has been overlooked. This study drew on Hong Kong family caregivers' reports of their cargiving practice and disagreements with care recipients about care-related decisions and their implications for personhood to identify person-centered family care support needs.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with family caregivers of people with dementia in Hong Kong, China. Participants were asked to share their family dementia caregiving experience and practice, specifically regarding decisions and practices that elicited disagreement. We used thematic analysis to analyze data generated from interviews.

RESULTS

Six caregiver practices were identified: exchange for mutual agreement, a foot-in-the-door approach, acceptance of requests/behaviors contrary to the caregivers' views, infantilization, treachery, and exclusion and imposition.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

These findings highlight the importance of providing support and guidelines for person-centered care to promote personhood in the family caregiving context in dementia care.

'Making the most of time during personal care': nursing home staff experiences of meaningful engagement with residents with advanced dementia

OBJECTIVES

Dementia progressively affects cognitive functioning, including the ability to communicate. Those who struggle to communicate are often considered unable to relate to other people. Frontline care workers are in a position to connect with residents. However, we know little about their perspectives. The aim of this study was to understand how and when nursing home staff meaningfully engaged with residents with advanced dementia.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews, supplemented by informal conversations, were conducted with 21 staff from seven nursing homes. Inductive thematic analysis identified themes in the accounts.

RESULTS

Four themes related to how staff engaged with residents with advanced dementia (initiating meaningful engagement, recognising subtle reactions, practising caring behaviours, patience and perseverance). Two themes related to when meaningful engagement occurred (lacking time to connect, making the most of time during personal care).

CONCLUSION

A key barrier to implementing formal interventions to improve care is lack of staff time. Staff overcome this by using personal care time for meaningful engagement with residents. Their approach, developed through experience, is consonant with person-centred dementia care. Building on this, future research should use participatory approaches building on practice wisdom to further develop and evaluate meaningful engagement with residents with advanced dementia.

District nurses' experiences with involuntary treatment in dementia care at home: a qualitative descriptive study

BACKGROUND

Research shows that half of person(s) living with dementia (PLWD) receive care which they resist and/or have not given consent to, defined as involuntary treatment. District nurses play a key role in providing this care. Knowledge about how district nurses experience involuntary treatment is lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the experiences of district nurses who used involuntary treatment for PLWD at home.

METHODS

A qualitative descriptive design using semi-structured interviews. Sixteen district nurses with experience in involuntary treatment for PLWD were recruited through purposive sampling. Data were analysed using the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven.

RESULTS

District nurses' experiences with involuntary treatment were influenced by their involvement in the decision-making process. When they were involved, they considered involuntary treatment use to be appropriate care. However, at the moment that involuntary treatment use was started, district nurses were worried that its use was unjust since they wished to respect the wishes of the PLWD. Eventually, district nurses found, from a professional perspective, that involuntary treatment use was necessary, and that safety outweighed the autonomy of the PLWD. District nurses experienced dealing with this dilemma as stressful, due to conflicting values. If district nurses were not involved in the decision-making process regarding the use of involuntary treatment, family caregivers generally decided on its use. Often, district nurses perceived this request as inappropriate dementia care and they first tried to create a dialogue with the family caregivers to reach a compromise. However, in most cases, family caregivers stood by their request and the district nurse still provided involuntary treatment and found this difficult to tolerate.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show that district nurses experience involuntary treatment use as stressful due to dealing with obverse values of safety versus autonomy. To prevent involuntary treatment use and obverse values, we need to increase their ethical awareness, communication skills, knowledge and skills with person-centred care so they can deal with situations that can evolve into involuntary treatment use in a person-centred manner.

Critically ill patients' experiences of nursing care and the effect on their personhood: A retrospective study

AIM

This study aims to report patients' experiences of nursing care in the critical care unit and the resulting effect of such care on the personhood of patients.

DESIGN AND METHOD

The study adopted a qualitative design and aimed to include both descriptive and exploratory information. It involved a single participant group comprising ten previously critically ill patients with whom retrospective, semi-structured interviews were conducted in a natural setting during 2018. Private hospitals in Gauteng, South Africa, were targeted for data collection.

RESULTS

The findings of this study were categorised and described according to Kitwood's conceptualisation of person-centred care. Five categories were identified by patients as impacting their personhood and perceived person-centred care.

CONCLUSION

Nurses ability to support perceived personhood of patients during person-centred care is integral to the betterment of the patient. Patient's experiences of nursing care can often be affected if they perceive their personhood as not being valued by nurses. This study creates increased awareness of these components to ensure that patient-nurse relationships are established adequately to meet both the patients' and the nurses' needs.

Everyday Experiences of People Living with Mild Cognitive Impairment or Dementia: A Scoping Review

Increasing attention has been paid to the 'voice' of people living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia, but there is a lack of clarity about how everyday life is perceived from this insider's perspective. This study aimed to explore the everyday life experiences, challenges and facilitators of individuals with MCI and dementia living at home. A scoping review of qualitative studies, guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewers Manual, was conducted. Eight databases were searched, resulting in 6345 records, of which 58 papers published between 2011 and 2021 were included. Analysis was carried out by descriptive content analysis. Findings were categorized into seven spheres of everyday life: experiences related to the condition, self, relationships, activities, environment, health and social care and public opinions. The results show many disruptions and losses in everyday life and how people try to accommodate these changes. In all areas of everyday life, people show a deep desire to have reciprocal relationships, stay engaged through participation in activities and have a sense of belonging in the community. However, more research is needed on the factors that promote and impede the sense of reciprocity and belonging.

Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia as a Means of Communication: Considerations for Reducing Stigma and Promoting Person-Centered Care

Dementia has rapidly become a major global health crisis. As the aging population continues to increase, the burden increases commensurately on both individual and societal levels. The behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are a prominent clinical feature of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). BPSD represent a myriad of manifestations that can create significant challenges for persons living with dementia and their care providers. As such, BPSD can result in detriments to social interaction with others, resulting in harm to the psychosocial health of the person with dementia. While brain deterioration can contribute to BPSD as the disease progresses, it may be confounded by language and communication difficulties associated with ADRD. Indeed, when a person with dementia cannot effectively communicate their needs, including basic needs such as hunger or toileting, nor symptoms of pain or discomfort, it may manifest as BPSD. In this way, a person with dementia may be attempting to communicate with what little resources are available to them in the form of emotional expression. Failing to recognize unmet needs compromises care and can reduce quality of life. Moreover, failing to fulfill said needs can also deteriorate communication and social bonds with loved ones and caregivers. The aim of this review is to bring the differential of unmet needs to the forefront of BPSD interpretation for both formal and informal caregivers. The overarching goal is to provide evidence to reframe the approach with which caregivers view the manifestations of BPSD to ensure quality of care for persons with dementia. Understanding that BPSD may, in fact, be attempts to communicate unmet needs in persons with dementia may facilitate clinical care decisions, promote quality of life, reduce stigma, and foster positive communications.

Are Interventions for Formal Caregivers Effective for Improving Dementia Care? A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews

Background and Objectives

Several systematic reviews exist that examine the efficacy of educational interventions in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) designed to improve formal caregivers' knowledge and skills and/or the outcomes of persons living with dementia. The aim of this article is to summarize existing systematic reviews to assess the effectiveness of educational interventions tested in RCTs and directed at formal caregivers.

Research Design and Methods

Smith et al.'s methodology guided this systematic review of systematic reviews. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and the A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR 2) for quality appraisals. Reviews were included if they contained interventions with an RCT design that focused on changing staff behavior and/or practice toward persons living with dementia, in any setting and for any health care discipline.

Results

We identified six systematic reviews, one rated as high-quality on the AMSTAR 2. Most interventions were directed at nursing staff, in long-term care facilities, focused on agitation, and were atheoretical. There is insufficient evidence to guide implementation of currently tested interventions; however, training in communication skills, person-centered care, and dementia-care mapping with supervision show promise for improving agitation.

Discussion and Implications

There's a critical need for additional research with well-designed RCTs, and clear reporting of protocols and findings to inform the field on how best to train and support the workforce. Although there is no conclusive evidence on what interventions are most effective, it could be argued that providing training using interventions with modest evidence of impact is better than no training at all until the evidence base is strengthened.

Preserved Consciousness in Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias: Caregiver Awareness and Communication Strategies

Alzheimer's disease is an insidious onset neurodegenerative syndrome without effective treatment or cure. It is rapidly becoming a global health crisis that is overwhelming healthcare, society, and individuals. The clinical nature of neurocognitive decline creates significant challenges in bidirectional communication between caregivers and persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) that can negatively impact quality-of-life. This paper sought to understand how and to what extent would awareness training about the levels of consciousness in AD influence the quality-of-life interactions in the caregiver-patient dyad. A literature review of multiple databases was conducted utilizing a transdisciplinary approach. The sum of findings indicates a positive relationship between enhanced caregiver awareness and training, positive interactions, and improved QOL measures among patients and caregivers. A multidirectional relationship was found among healthcare policies, training and education resources, caregivers, and persons with AD. Specifically, the current lack of policy and inadequate training and educational resources has various detrimental effects on patients and caregivers, while improvements in training and education of caregivers yields positive outcomes in communication and QOL. Furthermore, evidence of preserved consciousness in persons with AD was demonstrated from multiple disciplines, including neurobiological, psychological, and biopsychosocial models. The literature further revealed several methods to access the preserved consciousness in persons with AD and related dementias, including sensory, emotional, and cognitive stimulations. The evidence from the literature suggests a reframed approach to our understanding and treatment of persons with AD is not only warranted, but crucial to address the needs of those affected by AD.

Informal carers' support needs when caring for a person with dementia - A scoping literature review

BACKGROUND

Informal carers of people with dementia report having unmet needs for support and few supportive interventions have been shown to be effective. There is a need to develop needs assessment instruments and supportive interventions with a holistic and person-centred approach to meet the various and complex needs of carers. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of carers' support needs when caring for people with dementia with the objectives to map and synthesise knowledge on key concepts of carers' support needs.

METHODS

A scoping review methodology was used. A literature search was conducted in PsycINFO, CINAHL, PubMed and EMBASE between January 2007 and October 2019. Three authors independently selected articles meeting the inclusion criteria, and data were extracted using a matrix developed for that purpose. Inductive content analysis was used to synthesise key concepts of carers' support needs.

RESULTS

The search identified 2748 articles after removing duplicates, and 122 articles were included in the mapping of carers' support needs. Synthesising carers' support needs indicated that the full extent of support needs emerges in the interaction between the carer and the person cared for and that it is possible to categorise support needs into four key concepts related to: 1) the carer as a person, 2) managing being a carer, 3) providing care, and 4) knowledge of dementia.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study help to map a framework describing carers' support needs that may guide the development of future needs assessment instruments and supportive interventions.