title: Living with and caring for patients with Alzheimer's disease in nursing homes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many of the patients with Alzheimer disease are taken care of in nursing homes. However the literature on the experiences of Iranian formal caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer disease is scarce. This qualitative study explored the caring experiences of formal caregivers in nursing homes that can improve the quality of care and patient's quality of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  This qualitative study used the principles of descriptive content analysis to analyze these data. Our participants included 11 female and 3 male caregivers aged 25 to 38 years who were selected for interviewing based on a purposive sampling method. The data were analyzed with a content analysis method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly 900 initial codes were extracted and categorized into 6 main themes including "managing difficult behaviors", "dependence on familial care", "continuum of different feelings", "care for a child", "living with the patients" and "not understanding the patients", which was further analyzed in the two subcategories "caring without enough information" and " a dead man moving". conclusion: The care provided by our informants was mainly influenced by attitudes, culture and religious beliefs of caregivers about family attachment and ample driven reward of helping and caring frail or old people in Islam. These cultural and religious beliefs could facilitate provision of care and confrontation with patients' child-like behaviors. It is suggested that employment of trained staff and plans for their continued education can improve the quality of care and the quality of the patient's life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahrzad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yektatalab
authors.affiliation: Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, Department of Nursing, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Farkhondeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sharif
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Education, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hossein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kaveh
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Masood
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fallahi Khoshknab
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Peyman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petramfar
keywords: Alzheimer disease; Care experience patient; Nursing homes; patient