An analysis of the communication of adult residents of a long-term care hospital as perceived by their caregivers.
Different groups of caregivers (nurses, orderlies, professionals, student orderlies and volunteers) who were in frequent interaction with residents from a long-term care hospital were interviewed with a nominal group process. They were asked to identify concrete situations of communication in which residents with no trouble communicating, residents with aphasia and residents with dementia need to express and/or comprehend a message. A total of 196 statements were recorded and coded using a qualitative approach into different categories of communication acts specific to daily life situations and several categories of generic communication acts, which are unrelated to the daily routine of care and treatment. The results show that communication in daily life situations varies little in relation to the different residents. However, residents with language disorders are perceived to be less involved in generic communication acts than residents with no communication disorder. They also demonstrate that the perceptions of communication of the different caregivers vary. The results are discussed in relationship to the conception of an evaluation instrument for language-impaired long-term care residents, which will help in determining intervention as well as the objective evaluation of its effects.
Le Dorze
G
G
Ecole d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Julien
M
M
Brassard
C
C
Durocher
J
J
Boivin
G
G
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D001037:Aphasia; D017028:Caregivers; D003142:Communication; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003704:Dementia; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D008134:Long-Term Care