Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Ageing and Health (Ageing and Health), Postbox 2136, N-3103, Tønsberg, Norway.
Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
BMC Geriatr. 2019 Oct 30;19(1):295. doi: 10.1186/s12877-019-1306-9.
People with dementia describe experiences of loss that threaten their autonomy and ability to contribute to society. They often have difficulties with orientation, loss of roll function, and fear about the future, and need help from others. An increasing body of literature also focuses on how people with dementia search for meaning and maintaining of quality to life, and how they find strategies to live with dementia. A review of the scientific literature on coping and dementia is warranted and can help to advice and inform healthcare personnel and decision makers on how they can support and plan for appropriate healthcare services for people with dementia. The aim of this systematic meta-synthesis was therefore to interpret and synthesize knowledge regarding people with dementia's experience of coping.
We conducted a systematic, computerised search of Medline, Embase, Cinahl Complete, PsycINFO and Age Line combining MeSH terms and text words for different types of dementia with different descriptions of experience. Studies comprised 1) a sample of people with dementia, 2) a qualitative interview as a research method and 3) a description of experiences of coping were included. The search resulted in 7129 articles, of which 163 were read in full text, 80 were excluded due to the exclusion criteria or low quality according. The analysis was conducted in line with qualitative content analyses.
This interpretative qualitative meta-synthesis included 74 articles of good quality encompassing interviews with 955 persons with dementia. The material revealed two main resources of coping: (1) Humour and (2) Practical and emotional support, and four overall strategies in which people with dementia cope with the challenges they experience: (1) Keep going and holding on to life as usual; (2) Adapting and adjusting to the demands from the situation; (3) Accepting the situation; and (4) Avoiding the situation A comprehensive understanding of the categories led to the latent theme: Balancing the struggle of living with dementia.
This meta-synthesis indicates that people with dementia cope in different ways and using several parallel strategies. This insight is essential in dementia care to facilitate a supportive environment.
痴呆症患者描述了那些威胁他们自主权和为社会做贡献能力的丧失经历。他们经常在方向感、角色功能丧失和对未来的恐惧方面存在困难，需要他人的帮助。越来越多的文献也关注痴呆症患者如何寻找意义和维持生活质量，以及他们如何找到应对痴呆症的策略。因此，有必要对关于应对和痴呆症的科学文献进行综述，这可以帮助为医疗保健人员和决策者提供建议和信息，了解如何为痴呆症患者提供支持和规划适当的医疗保健服务。本系统元分析的目的是解释和综合关于痴呆症患者应对体验的知识。
我们对 Medline、Embase、Cinahl Complete、PsycINFO 和 Age Line 进行了系统的、计算机化的搜索，结合了不同类型痴呆症的 MeSH 术语和文本词，以及不同的体验描述。研究包括 1）痴呆症患者样本，2）作为研究方法的定性访谈，以及 3）应对体验的描述。该搜索共产生了 7129 篇文章，其中 163 篇文章的全文被阅读，80 篇文章因排除标准或根据质量低而被排除。分析是按照定性内容分析进行的。
这项解释性定性元分析包括 74 篇高质量的文章，涵盖了对 955 名痴呆症患者的访谈。研究结果揭示了两种应对资源：（1）幽默，（2）实际和情感支持，以及人们应对所经历的挑战的四种总体策略：（1）继续坚持正常生活；（2）适应和调整以适应情况的要求；（3）接受情况；以及（4）避免情况。对这些类别的全面理解导致了潜在的主题：平衡与痴呆症共存的斗争。
这项元分析表明，痴呆症患者以不同的方式和使用几种并行的策略进行应对。这种洞察力在痴呆症护理中至关重要，可以促进支持性环境的形成。
