German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Witten, Germany.
Faculty of Health, School of Nursing Science, Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H, Witten, Germany.
J Adv Nurs. 2021 Aug;77(8):3518-3530. doi: 10.1111/jan.14873. Epub 2021 May 6.
To describe a study protocol for a survey study in German nursing homes that (1) plans to enhance a typology of care units (2) and investigates the association between different care unit types and the provision of dementia-specific interventions based on a stratified randomized sample.
Many nursing homes in Germany provide Dementia Special Care Units. Existing definitions often do no justice to the complexity of their context. In this study, we define context as structural and organizational variables. It is necessary to define an empirical based set of indicators to characterize care units with respect to dementia care.
Observational survey study with a cross-sectional design.
We will use a stratified random nationwide sample of 160 German nursing homes. Stratification variables are federal state and the existence of a Dementia Special Care Unit. The sampling frame from which the participating nursing homes are selected is a list with the total population of German nursing homes (n = 11.658). Data will be gathered on the level of the nursing homes and one of their care units via computer-assisted telephone interviews with a standardized questionnaire. The distribution of the assessed variables (contextual characteristics) will be described in absolute and relative frequencies for the whole sample in the first step in order to describe dementia-specific care structures. In the second step, factor analysis of mixed data (FAMD) with hierarchical clustering (HC) will be applied to analyze relationships between variables. The study was ethically approved in October 2018.
The typology can be used in future studies to define the context of care units in nursing homes. This may improve the interpretation of findings from future studies that investigated interventions in nursing homes.
The typology will visualize and describe the complexity of contextual characteristics of several care units.
描述一项在德国养老院进行的调查研究的研究方案，该研究旨在（1）增强护理单元的分类法，（2）基于分层随机样本，调查不同护理单元类型与提供痴呆症特异性干预之间的关联。
德国许多养老院都提供痴呆症特别护理单元。现有的定义往往不能公正地反映其所处环境的复杂性。在这项研究中，我们将环境定义为结构和组织变量。有必要定义一套基于实证的指标，以根据痴呆症护理来描述护理单元。
采用横断面设计的观察性调查研究。
我们将使用一个分层随机的全国性样本，包括 160 家德国养老院。分层变量为联邦州和是否存在痴呆症特别护理单元。参与养老院的抽样框架是一份德国养老院总人数的清单（n=11658）。通过使用标准化问卷进行计算机辅助电话访谈，在养老院和其护理单元之一的层面上收集数据。在第一步中，将以绝对频率和相对频率描述整个样本中评估变量（环境特征）的分布，以描述特定于痴呆症的护理结构。在第二步中，将应用混合数据因子分析（FAMD）和层次聚类（HC）来分析变量之间的关系。该研究已于 2018 年 10 月获得伦理批准。
该分类法可用于未来的研究中，以确定养老院护理单元的环境背景。这可能会提高对未来研究中干预措施的解释能力，这些研究是在养老院中进行的。
该分类法将可视化和描述多个护理单元的环境特征的复杂性。
