Self-care in elders with dementia: a concept analysis.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to analyze the concept of self-care in elders with dementia through a review of nursing literature and to provide more understanding of the definition and perspectives of the concept of self-care notion in elders with dementia.


METHODS
The technique developed by Walker and Avant was used as a guide in analyzing the concept of self-care.


RESULTS
Attributes of self-care in dementia may include a single or group of actions needed for sustaining life, a personal effort to maintain functional independence while minimizing other's assistance, an outcome behavior from the person's interaction with inter-personal and/or contextual environment, and a functional ability that may decline in parallel to cognitive impairment. Antecedents of self-care in dementia may include at least presence of a certain degree of cognitive appraisal for the self-care needs, self-willingness for the self-care action, spatial and visual orientation, cultural pre-conception of the self-care behavior, presence of environmental context/equipment available for self-care, and sufficient time available. The consequences may include sustaining of life, feel of satisfaction, achieving independence, extended life expectancy, increased self-confidence, decreased caregiver distress and/or burden, savings in health care costs.


CONCLUSIONS
Defining attributes and antecedents and consequences of self-care in dementia identified in this study provided empirical ground of a middle-range theory of self-care for a clinical population with dementia and generated possible hypotheses to be tested in future studies.
Yeom
Hye-A
HA
University of Rochester School of Nursing, NY 14620, USA. hyea_yeom@urmc.rochester.edu
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003704:Dementia / Q000451:nursing / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009742:Nursing Theory; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index