Nurse caregiver feelings about agitation in Alzheimer's disease.
This study examines the feelings of nurse caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) who are agitated. Methods included participant observation, examination of medical records, and ethnographic interviews of 17 nurse caregivers from one inpatient setting. Two patterns of feelings emerged from the data. One pattern was associated with caregiver expressions of personal identification with and vulnerability to AD. These nurses endorsed feelings of helplessness, men hopelessness, and frustration when providing care to agitated AD patients. A second pattern situated nursing interactions within the realistic context of the patient's response to the illness. Caregiver feelings of confidence, competence, and satisfaction were associated with the second pattern. The relationship between the feeling states of nurse caregivers and their reported management of agitation in AD is discussed. Recognition and awareness of distressing feelings is a necessary first step for nurses to learn less personalized reactions to patients and respond more objectively to agitated behaviors.
Roper
J M
JM
Nursing Research Program, West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, California 90073, USA.
Shapira
J
J
Beck
A
A
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000451:nursing*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation / Q000451:nursing*; D013315:Stress, Psychological