Can humming caregivers´ facilitate feeding during mealtime situations with persons with dementia? A qualitative study

Background. ‘Music Therapeutic Caregiving’, defined as when caregivers’ sing for or together with persons with dementia care situations, has been shown to facilitate the caring situation, and enhance positive and decrease negative expressions in persons with dementia. No studies about singing during mealtimes have been conducted, and this project was designed to elucidate this. However, since previous studies have shown that there is a risk that persons with dementia will start to sing along with the caregiver, the caregiver in this study hummed such that the person with dementia did not sing instead of eat. Aim. To describe professional caregivers’ experiences of humming during meal time while feeding persons with dementia. Method. An intervention with caregivers humming was implemented during lunch time. Focus group interviews were conducted to fetch the caregivers experiences. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the interviews. Results. The caregivers described that humming disseminated relaxation and joy, and awakened memories about the songs hummed which encouraged the persons with the dementia to join in the songs. They also described that humming seemed to make the persons with dementia associate with mealtime and could make them eat more. However it also revealed suspiciousness and agitation from the persons with dementia. Conclusion. Humming during mealtime revealed mainly positive as well as some negative influences. More and larger studies are needed to be able to draw general conclusions.

Evaluation of communication behavior in persons with dementia during caregivers’ singing

The number of persons with dementia (PWD) is increasing rapidly worldwide. Cognitive impairments and communication difficulties are common among PWD. Therefore, gaining mutual togetherness in caring relation between PWD and their caregivers is important. This study was to investigate the effects of music therapeutic care (MTC) during morning care situations on improving verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors in people with dementia. An observation study with 10 PWD participating. Videotaped interactions (VIO) between PWD and their caregivers were conducted during eight weekly sessions, four recordings consisted of usual morning care and four recordings were of morning care with MTC intervention. The Verbal and Nonverbal Interaction Scale was used to analyze the recorded interactions at a later time. The unsociable verbal variable Cursing decreased significantly (P=.037) during MTC when compared with the baseline measurement. A significant (P=.000) reduction was observed for the unsociable nonverbal variable Does not respond to question. MTC significantly (P=.01) increased the mean score for the sociable nonverbal variable – Calm – relaxed. For sociable verbal communication, significant differences were observed for the variables Use coherent communication (P=.012), Use relevant communication (P=.009), Responds to questions (P=.000), Humming (P=.004), Singing (P=.000). MTC during morning care situations can be an effective non-pharmacological treatment, as well as nursing intervention in order to improve sociable communication behaviors, as well as reduce unsociable communication behaviors of PWDs

Reactions of Persons with Dementia to Caregivers Singing in Morning Care Situations

Music therapeutic caregiving', when caregivers sing for or together with persons with severe dementia during care situations, has been suggested as a way to reduce problematic behaviors in dementia care. The present study implemented this technique as an intervention in dementia care. Six caregivers participated in group interviews about their experiences of morning care situations without and with'Music therapeutic caregiving'. Through a qualitative content analysis two themes emerged.'Being in a different reality' was based on'usual' morning care situations. The caregivers' experienced the persons with dementia as absent-minded; communication and cooperation were difficult. The second theme,'Being present', was based on morning care situations with the intervention. The caregivers described communication as enhanced; the persons with dementia expressed themselves more appropriately, making cooperation possible. The results indicate that'Music therapeutic caregiving' might lead to a more positive experience of the person with dementia and seems to increase receptivity to caregiving.  

Palliativ omvårdnad i hemmet - de anhörigas upplevelse av delaktighet : En litteraturstudie

Bakgrund: Tack vare en mer avancerad hemsjukvård har den palliativa vården utvecklats, vilket gör det möjligt för fler människor att dö i det egna hemmet. Palliativ vård handlar inte endast om patienten, utan involverar även de anhöriga. Det övergripande målet för palliativ vård är att patienten och den anhörige upplever god livskvalitet till livets slut. De anhörigas närvaro är betydelsefull, inte endast för patienten utan även för vårdarna. De anhöriga befinner sig i en mycket påfrestande situation och det är viktigt att vårdare har kunskap om vad de anhöriga upplever och hur man kan stötta de anhöriga i deras situation. Syfte: Att belysa anhörigas upplevelser av delaktighet i samband med palliativ omvårdnad i hemmet. Metod: En litteraturstudie baserad på 11 vetenskapliga artiklar av kvalitativ ansats. Resultat: 2 kategorier framkom ur studien. Delaktighet ger anhöriga upplevelsen av att få vardagen att fungera och Anhörigas delaktighet bidrar till personcentrerad vård. Det blev en drastisk förändring i livet för de anhöriga. Det var inte bara hemmet som förändras i och med all teknisk utrustning och hjälpmedel som patienten behövde. De anhörigas livsförändringar gjorde att det sociala livet fick lida. Tankar kring existentiella frågor dök upp när man levde så nära inpå döden och det var viktigt för de anhöriga att vårdarna kunde se och lyssna även på deras behov. En god kommunikation var viktigt för att de anhöriga skulle våga prata om sina egna behov, tankar och åsikter. Slutsats: Det viktigaste för de anhöriga var att kommunikationen, stödet och informationen fungerade mellan alla parter. Fungerade dessa delar så byggdes en god relation mellan parterna och man fick en god tillit till vården. Samarbetet blev bättre och de anhöriga kände sig som en i teamet.