Doyle PJ, Marco CA. The effect of labeling on employee perceptions of residents living on Alzheimer's disease specialized care units.
J Am Med Dir Assoc 2011;
12:547-550. [PMID:
21450228 DOI:
10.1016/j.jamda.2010.12.002]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2010] [Revised: 11/29/2010] [Accepted: 12/01/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
This study examined whether labeling influenced nursing home employees' perceptions of residents and how those perceptions could affect resident-caregiver interactions.
DESIGN
This was a small descriptive study using vignettes and questionnaires.
SETTING
Two nursing homes (one rural, one urban) in New England.
PARTICIPANTS
Forty-three nursing home employees including registered nurses, certified nursing assistants, activities staff, and others.
MEASUREMENTS
All participants read a vignette based on the behavior of a fictional resident and rated their perceptions of the behavior, indicated whether and how they would report the event, and made recommendations for possible courses of action. Although vignettes were the same, the resident label varied: Alzheimer's disease specialized care unit (ADSCU) resident or resident of a non-specialized long-term care unit.
RESULTS
Employees who read the vignette for the ADSCU resident rated the resident's behavior as more problematic, inappropriate, and aggressive than the same behavior for non-ADSCU residents.
CONCLUSION
The effect of the label of "ADSCU resident" may have implications for care provided in specialized long-term care environments.
Collapse