Language-based communication strategies that support person-centered communication with persons with dementia

ABSTRACTBackgroundThere are many recommended language-based strategies for effective communication with persons with dementia. What is unknown is whether effective language-based strategies are also person centered. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to examine whether language-based strat...

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Published in:International psychogeriatrics Vol. 27; no. 10; pp. 1707 - 1718
Main Authors: Savundranayagam, Marie Y., Moore-Nielsen, Kelsey
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.10.2015
Elsevier Inc
Subjects:
Acknowledgment
Affirmation
Classification
Clinical Coding
Communication
Communication strategies
Dementia
Dementia - nursing
Discourse strategies
Female
Greetings
Humans
Language
language strategies
Language usage
long-term care
Male
Medical personnel
Negotiation
Patient-Centered Care - organization & administration
person-centered communication
Personhood
Questions
Recognition
staff caregivers
Strategies
Utterances
Validity
Verbal communication
dementia
staff caregivers
person-centered communication
language strategies
long-term care
ISSN:1041-6102, 1741-203X, 1741-203X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:ABSTRACTBackgroundThere are many recommended language-based strategies for effective communication with persons with dementia. What is unknown is whether effective language-based strategies are also person centered. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to examine whether language-based strategies for effective communication with persons with dementia overlapped with the following indicators of person-centered communication: recognition, negotiation, facilitation, and validation. MethodsConversations ( N = 46) between staff-resident dyads were audio-recorded during routine care tasks over 12 weeks. Staff utterances were coded twice, using language-based and person-centered categories. There were 21 language-based categories and 4 person-centered categories. ResultsThere were 5,800 utterances transcribed: 2,409 without indicators, 1,699 coded as language or person centered, and 1,692 overlapping utterances. For recognition, 26% of utterances were greetings, 21% were affirmations, 13% were questions (yes/no and open-ended), and 15% involved rephrasing. Questions (yes/no, choice, and open-ended) comprised 74% of utterances that were coded as negotiation. A similar pattern was observed for utterances coded as facilitation where 51% of utterances coded as facilitation were yes/no questions, open-ended questions, and choice questions. However, 21% of facilitative utterances were affirmations and 13% involved rephrasing. Finally, 89% of utterances coded as validation were affirmations. ConclusionsThe findings identify specific language-based strategies that support person-centered communication. However, between 1 and 4, out of a possible 21 language-based strategies, overlapped with at least 10% of utterances coded as each person-centered indicator. This finding suggests that staff need training to use more diverse language strategies that support personhood of residents with dementia.
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ISSN:1041-6102
1741-203X
1741-203X
DOI:10.1017/S1041610215000903