Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Investigating Nonverbal Strategies To Support Communication With Persons Living With Dementia, Emma Bender

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Many persons living with dementia experience difficulties comprehending language and benefit from nonverbal communication (NVC). This research aimed to identify potential strategies for nonverbal behaviour adaptation to enhance communication with persons living with dementia, based on the Communication Enhancement Model. Studies included a scoping review of NVC strategies for caregivers with persons living with dementia and an analysis of whether NVC strategies used by personal support workers (PSW) co-occurred with verbal communication demonstrating person-centered indicators (recognition, negotiation, validation and facilitation). Video-recorded interactions (n=40) between PSW and simulated persons living with dementia were analysed using a codebook of NVC strategies (facial …

Bridging The Gap: Relationship Building Through The Use Of Dance Movement Therapy With Older Adults With Dementia: Literature Review, Goni Rubel Zlotnik

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The purpose of this capstone thesis is to examine how the use of dance movement therapy (DMT) can be a beneficial intervention for relationship building when working with older adults with dementia. Studies have shown that dementia is a state where body and mind are in distress (Hill, 2009; Karkou & Meekums, 2017). Therefore, caring and understanding of dementia treatment is vital for maintaining relationships and developing new ones. Person-centered care (PCC) has been used in this thesis as a theoretical psychological framework to support relationship building with elders with dementia. Karkou and Meekums (2017) suggested that due to the …

The Monument Of Memories As A Place/Space Of Multifarious Rhetorical Action, Meagan K. Winkleseth

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The number of people living with some form of dementia globally is growing. The absence of a cure, combined with this rapidly increasing presence of dementia, has directed attention away from fostering an understanding of the disease as it is socially experienced and toward the intricacies of determining its neurological properties. This study analyzes the Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County’s Monument of Memories as a cultural form with the potential to (re)frame how the experience of dementia is socially conceptualized in Windsor, Ontario, and beyond. Specifically, I employ theoretical and methodological insights from participatory critical rhetoric, postmodern architectural …

Conversation Goals, Communication Satisfaction, And Relational Dynamics While Navigating Alzheimer’S Disease: A Pre- And Post-Diagnosis Dyadic Examination Of Family Communication, Elizabeth A. Spencer

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Currently there are more than 16 million unpaid Alzheimer’s disease and dementia caregivers in the United States. These caregivers are often family members of the person living with dementia, and as they navigate the process of giving care to the patient, they must also maintain relationships with each other. Families enter the dementia experience with a history of their relational experiences, and their relational experiences potentially change as they navigate family experiences after the dementia diagnosis. Much existing scholarship examining family communication in the context of progressive Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias has focused on the perspectives of one …

Health Information Seeking As A Coping Strategy To Reduce The Stress Of Informal Caregivers Of Individuals With Alzheimer’S Disease And Other Forms Of Dementia, Nia Francis Mason

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between information seeking and the perceived stress levels of informal Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers. An additional component was added to determine whether health literacy and emotional state moderated the relationship.

The study involved conducting qualitative interviews followed by collecting survey data to answer the following research questions: 1) What motivating factors lead informal AD caregivers to seek out information? How do their information needs change? Why do informal caregivers choose to utilize certain resources more than others? Is there a correlation between information seeking and resulting stress levels? Does health literacy moderate the association between …

Interpersonal Communication In The Context Of Dementia: Examining Family Caregivers' Appraisals And Burden, Stacy Lynn Barnes

Dissertations (1934 -)

Purpose and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore dementia family caregivers' appraisals of communication behaviors and strategies, and their relationships to caregiver burden. Study objectives were to investigate: 1) the relationship between frequency of dementia-related communication behaviors and caregivers' appraisals of frustration; 2) the relationship between caregivers' use of communication strategies and appraisals of helpfulness; 3) the structural relationships between communication behavior appraisal, communication strategy appraisal, problem behaviors, and caregiver burden; and 4) caregiver education level as a moderating variable of the final structural model. Methods: A written, mailed questionnaire was developed to capture dementia family caregivers' …

Re-Cognizing Power In The Culture Of Dementia Care Knowledge, Ryan T. Deforge

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In light of increasing system demands, system regulations, and constrained resources, those living and working with dementia in the long-term care sector are vulnerable to oppressive care practices. This is true so long as our understanding of how social power affects the ways in which dementia care knowledge is created, shared, and enacted remains limited. Based on prolonged field observations and on informal and formal interviews with care recipients, family members, and staff, the aim of this critical qualitative research was to examine the culture of dementia care knowledge in two sites: a specialized dementia care unit in a long-term …