Enhancement of Aging in Place: An Evolving Understanding of Person-Centered Dementia Care in Home Settings

Abstract

Background: There has been a rich body of literature on informal caregivers of persons with dementia (PWD). However, little has been discussed on how to facilitate person-centered dementia care in home settings with spouses as primary caregivers. We tend to take it for granted that spouses provide person-centered care for PWD. However, being spouses of PWD and living with them for several decades does not necessarily mean that it is easier for them to provide person-centered dementia care and maintain valued and healthy relationships. Objective: The current study aimed to explore dyadic experiences of PWD and their spousal caregivers and develop a culturally and contextually-sensitive understanding of person-centered dementia care in home-based settings. Methods: A total of 20 dyads of PWD and their care partners were selected for this study. A trained qualitative interviewer conducted a one-on-one interview with each participant with dementia and their care partners separately. We adopted both conventional and directed content analyses. Results: Our findings provide examples of care partners provide person-centered care, resulting in a profound positive impact on their wellbeing. Adaptive leadership and collaborative work emerged as a key finding in facilitating person-centered dementia care. Cultural relevancy of person-centered dementia care was also interpreted from the data. The study findings provide implications for the evolving of person-centered dementia care model in home-based settings. Conclusion: Findings from this study highlight the significance of facilitating person-centered dementia care in home-based settings between PWD and their primary family caregivers.