Feasibility of a Dementia-Focused Person-Centered Communication Intervention for Home Care Workers

Communication in home care: Understanding the lived experiences of formal caregivers communicating with persons living with dementia

“…The current study is a component of the Be EPIC project, an evidence-informed, person-centred communication intervention for PSWs caring for PLWD in home care (Savundranayagam et al, 2020). Interview data were collected in a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada in 2016.…”

“…However, they can stem also from a lack of formal caregiver understanding and knowledge of dementia, and a lack of proper communication abilities, skills and knowledge (Wang et al, 2013). Indeed, home care PSWs can lack sufficient knowledge and understanding of the syndrome (Polacsek et al, 2020), can possess only minimal qualifications (Hussein & Manthorpe, 2012), and can be ill-prepared to address dementia-related impairments (Savundranayagam et al, 2020). When formal care providers, regardless of care settings, do not have adequate knowledge and understanding of dementia, they experience challenges attributing impairments to the diagnostic and associated features of the syndrome or as a reflection of unmet needs (Polacsek et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2013), and demonstrate unease in caring for PLWD.…”

“…Socialization with PLWD is important also for formal caregivers. Engaging in social communication with PLWD helps formal caregivers learn about clients' life histories (Savundranayagam et al, 2020), which supports formal caregivers' ability to be personcentred (Kitwood, 1997). Person-centred communication enhances the quality of interactions between formal caregivers and PLWD (Savundranayagam et al, 2016).…”

“…outcomes, including, but not limited to improving formal caregivers' knowledge and understanding of dementia, improving formal caregivers' confidence, helping to manage better formal caregivers' negative emotions, enhancing job satisfaction and retention (Savundranayagam et al, 2020), supporting the well-being of PLWD (Riachi, 2018), enhancing PLWD-formal caregiver relationships, and increasing the person-centredness of formal caregivers and their use of person-centred communication (Riachi, 2018;Savundranayagam et al, 2020),. Employer support can influence participation in training (Savundranayagam et al, 2020). PSWs can experience employer-related barriers in attending training, such as difficulties with scheduling and income loss (Savundranayagam et al, 2020).…”

“…The dementia home care literature is focused typically on caregiving broadly, without a communication-specific lens. The limited research that examined formal caregivers' communication with PLWD in home settings includes studies which outline the feasibility of communication interventions (Riachi, 2018;Savundranayagam et al, 2020). Findings from Riachi (2018) and Savundranayagam and colleagues (2020) What are the implications of this new knowledge for nursing care with older people?…”