Creating relationships with persons with moderate to severe dementia

Abstract

The study describes how relationships are created with persons with moderate to severe dementia. The material comprises 24 video sequences of Relational Time (RT) sessions, 24 interviews with persons with dementia and eight interviews with professional caregivers. The study method was Constructivist Grounded Theory. The categories of ‘Assigning time’, ‘Establishing security and trust’ and ‘Communicating equality’ were strategies for arriving at the core category, ‘Opening up’, which was the process that led to creating relationships. Both parties had to contribute to create a relationship; the professional caregiver controlled the process, but the person with dementia permitted the caregiver's overtures and opened up, thus making the relationship possible. Interpersonal relationships are significant to enhancing the well-being of persons with dementia. Small measures like RT that do not require major resources can open paths to creating relationships.

Emotional safety of people living with dementia: a systematic review

“…Seven main "inner conditions related to psychological aspects" were identified: "perceived self-efficacy and selfdetermination" (Brataas et al, 2010;Ericsson et al, 2013;Mazaheri et al, 2014;Panke-Kochinke, 2013), "willingness to receive support" (Panke-Kochinke, 2013), "perceived dependency on others" (Panke-Kochinke, 2013), "perceived mental stability" (Wang et al, 2015), "perceived familiarity" (Brittain et al, 2010;Brorsson et al, 2011;Duggan et al, 2008;Genoe, 2009;Genoe & Dupuis, 2011), "perceived information need" (Panke-Kochinke, 2013) and "assurance that others care for PLWD" (Brorsson et al, 2013;Cronfalk et al, 2017;Hung et al, 2017;Mjørud et al, 2017;Nijhof et al, 2013). These conditions were often reported in a context or setting related to the use of outdoor environments and to interacting with others, e.g.…”

“…Two "outer conditions related to social aspects" were identified: "opportunity to interact socially" (Brataas et al, 2010;Faith, 2014;Hansen et al, 2017;Hung et al, 2017;Hynninen et al, 2015;Mazaheri et al, 2014;Mjørud et al, 2017;Panke-Kochinke, 2013;Sørensen et al, 2008) and "receiving support" (Brataas et al, 2010;Cronfalk et al, 2017;Ericsson et al, 2013;Hung et al, 2017;Mjørud et al, 2017;Panke-Kochinke, 2013;Wang et al, 2015). The first category comprises the following three conditions related to the basics of social interaction among people: "attitude towards people living with dementia" (Brataas et al, 2010;Mazaheri et al, 2014;Mjørud et al, 2017;Panke-Kochinke, 2013), "behavior of others" (Hansen et al, 2017;Hung et al, 2017;Sørensen et al, 2008) and "living in relationships" (Faith, 2014;Hynninen et al, 2015).…”

“…The second category is related to the special care situation and focuses on the implementation and receipt of support. This category includes "establishing relationships in care" (Ericsson et al, 2013), "performing stressful tasks" (Brataas et al, 2010) and "access to help" (Cronfalk et al, 2017;Hung et al, 2017;Mjørud et al, 2017;Panke-Kochinke, 2013;Wang et al, 2015) as the three main conditions. Only the avoidance of interactions is described as a strategy performed by people living with dementia (Cronfalk et al, 2017;Panke-Kochinke, 2013).…”

Political experiences of changing the focus in elderly care in one municipality

“…For example, interpersonal relationships are key factors for enhancing the wellbeing of persons with dementia (Ericsson et al . ). Future care for the elderly will include concepts of security and participation plus transferring resources from residential care to health promotion and prevention activities (Holmberg et al .…”

The impact of street clothes among caregivers on residents with dementia in special care units: The STRECLO study

“…This may indicate that caregivers themselves felt much closer to residents when they wore street clothes, reducing the physical (possibly professional) distance between themselves and residents which in turn benefited the residents. According to Ericsson, Kjellström, and Hellström (2011), when a caregiver is very close to a resident “communicating equality” is promoted, with the caregiver attempting to communicate to the person with dementia, a sense of being an equal. This was interpreted as having a significant effect, encouraging the person to open up and thus making a relationship possible.…”