A Qualitative Exploration of the Needs of Community-Dwelling Patients Living with Moderate Dementia

Tzu-Pei Yeh, Hsing-Chia Chen and Wei-Fen Ma
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Tzu-Pei Yeh: School of Nursing, China Medical University, Taichung 406040, Taiwan
Hsing-Chia Chen: Department of Nursing, Tsaotun Psychiatric Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Nantou 54249, Taiwan
Wei-Fen Ma: Nursing Department, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 406404, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-13

Abstract: Few studies have focused on developing a better understanding of the needs of patients with moderate-stage dementia. This study aimed to explore the needs of people living with moderate dementia and receiving home-care services from a local mental hospital. The study adopted a descriptive qualitative approach with purposive sampling to recruit patients with moderate dementia and receiving home-care services. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews and content analysis was used to interpret the experiences in the dialogue data. The results showed that the needs of people living with moderate dementia receiving home-care services contained four themes: the demand for company and care, the wish to recall familiar images, the need of reaffirming life purpose and value through reflection and reminiscence, and the desire for making autonomous end-of-life decisions. In addition to daily care, people living with moderate dementia crave companionship, expect meaningful exchanges of experiences to share their life, and have demands to have a voice in going through the final stage of life. The participants tended to focus more on issues related to the connections between living and dying. The results provide caregivers and home-care service providers with some insights into offering better care for people living with moderate dementia.

Keywords: home-care service; moderate dementia; needs; qualitative study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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