Person-centred care of people with dementia

Research project The overall aim of this study is therefore to explore person-centred care and its relation to wellbeing for people with dementia and staff in residential aged care.

Person-centred care is a concept that during the latest years has emerged to the forefront of discussions about high quality nursing care, especially within aged care and the care for people with dementia. However, areas still remain that are in need of further research. It has been described that valid and reliable measurement tools need to be developed and tested, and that the association between person-centred care and wellbeing, satisfaction with and involvement in care, quality of life and well-being for people with dementia needs further investigation. The overall aim of this study is therefore to explore person-centred care and its relation to wellbeing for people with dementia and staff in residential aged care.

Head of project

David Edvardsson Professor, combined with clinical employment

+46 90 786 91 43

Project overview

Project period:

2010-10-05 – 2013-12-31

Funding

Finansår , 2009, 2010, 2011

huvudman: PO Sandman, finansiar: Swedish Brain Power, y2009: 500, y2010: 500, y2011: 500,

huvudman: David Edvardsson, finansiar: Strategiska forskningsprogrammet vård, y2009: , y2010: 150, y2011: ,

Participating departments and units at Umeå University

Department of Nursing

Project members

Per-Olof Sandman Professor emeritus

Email

+46 90 786 70 93

Karin Sjögren Associate professor

Email

+46 90 786 92 47

Project description

In several countries around the globe, person-centred care is recommended for clinical practice (Kitwood, 1997; Edvardsson et al. 2008; Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, 2009). However, the literature indicates that:
a) the concept person-centred care need to be further investigated and developed;
b) few tools have been developed for the measurement of person-centred care and existing instruments are yet to be proven clinically valid, reliable and useful; and
c) associations between person-centred care and wellbeing in people with dementia need to be further studied, as well as person-centred care in relation to the working situation of staff.

This project attempts to provide answers to some of the questions that remain in the area of person-centred care and its potential benefits.

OVERALL AIM AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The overall aim of this study is to explore person-centred care and its relation to wellbeing for people with dementia and staff in residential aged care. More specifically, the following three research questions will be used in each study:

1. Is the Swedish language Person-centred Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) and the person-directed care measure (PDC) valid and reliable?
2. Are there any relationships between person-centred care and quality of life, prevalence of pain, depression, and behavioural symptoms among residents?
3. Are there any relationships between person-centred care and satisfaction with nursing care and work, job strain, and stress of conscience, among dementia care staff?

Hypotheses
We plan to test the following hypotheses:
• Higher levels of person-centred care will be associated with higher levels of quality of life, less reported pain, depression, and lower prevalence of behavioural symptoms of dementia among residents.
• Higher levels of person-centred care will be associated with higher satisfaction with nursing care and work, less job strain and stress of conscience among dementia care staff.