Citation

Thoma-Lürken T, Bleijlevens MHC, Lexis MAS, de Witte LP, Hamers JPH. Geriatr. Nurs. 2018; 39(1): 29-38.

Affiliation

Maastricht University, CAPHRI Care and Public Health Research Institute, Department of Health Services Research, Living Lab on Aging and Long-Term Care, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.gerinurse.2017.05.003

PMID

28624128

Abstract

Although the majority of people with dementia wish to age in place, they are particularly susceptible to nursing home admission. Nurses can play an important role in detecting practical problems people with dementia and their informal caregivers are facing and in advising them on various ways to manage these problems at home. Six focus group interviews (n = 43) with formal and informal caregivers and experts in the field of assistive technology were conducted to gain insight into the most important practical problems preventing people with dementia from living at home. Problems within three domains were consistently described as most important: informal caregiver/social network-related problems (e.g. high load of care responsibility), safety-related problems (e.g. fall risk, wandering), and decreased self-reliance (e.g. problems regarding self-care, lack of day structure). To facilitate aging in place and/or to delay institutionalization, nurses in community-based dementia care should focus on assessing problems within those three domains and offer potential solutions.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Aging-in-place; Community-dwelling; Dementia; Focus groups; Nurses; Practical problems