O'Rourke Hannah M, Sidani Souraya, Jeffery Nicole, Prestwich Judy, McLean Haydn
Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Level 3 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, 11405 87 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9 Canada.
School of Nursing, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3 Canada.
Int J Nurs Stud Adv. 2020 Oct 8;2:100009. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnsa.2020.100009. eCollection 2020 Nov.
Personal contact interventions involve routine visits with a person or animal to address loneliness. Research supports the promise of these interventions to address loneliness among cognitively intact older adults, but little is known about their use with people with dementia.
To assess the acceptability of personal contact interventions for use to address loneliness with older people with dementia, according to formal and informal care providers.
Cross-sectional, mixed methods complementarity design.
Ontario, Canada.
A purposive sample of 25 family members, friends, and health care providers of people with dementia.
Participants attended a face-to-face interview to discuss the acceptability of personal contact interventions. Participants completed questionnaires to rate acceptability (adapted Treatment Perception and Preference measure). A semi-structured interview followed to discuss the ratings and features of personal contact (with another person or animal) in more detail. The analysis involved descriptive statistics (quantitative data) and conventional content analysis (qualitative data). During the interpretation of the results, the qualitative findings were compared to the quantitative results to provide context and understand participants' perceptions of intervention acceptability in more depth; these are presented together in the results to demonstrate their distinct and complementary contributions to the findings.
Personal contact with a person or animal was rated as effective, logical, suitable, and low risk to address loneliness by over 80% of participants. Participants' willingness to engage in this type of contact, for example as a visitor or as a facilitator of animal contact, was 72%. Participants emphasized the benefits of personal contact. The findings highlight that individualized, flexible interventions that include appropriate facilitation are needed.
Future studies to develop and test personal contact interventions should involve flexible delivery, assess the feasibility and acceptability of these interventions (as in a Phase 2 trial of a complex intervention), and focus on the experiences of people with dementia.Tweetable Abstract: Tailored, routine, and facilitated contact with a person or animal shows promise to address loneliness for people with dementia.• Loneliness is emotionally painful and harms the health and quality of life of those that experience it.• Personal contact interventions refer to routine visits with another person or animal and have been found effective in addressing loneliness among cognitively intact older adults.• Friends, family members and health care providers of people with dementia view personal contact interventions as logical, suitable and effective to address loneliness of older adults with dementia.• Personal contact interventions are not always easy to implement and do not automatically promote meaningful connection and prevent loneliness for people with dementia.• Strategies to tailor and facilitate personal contact interventions are needed to promote their effectiveness when used with people with dementia.
人际接触干预包括定期拜访一个人或动物以解决孤独问题。研究支持这些干预措施有望解决认知功能完好的老年人的孤独问题，但对于其在痴呆症患者中的应用知之甚少。
根据正式和非正式护理提供者的意见，评估人际接触干预用于解决痴呆症老年人孤独问题的可接受性。
横断面混合方法互补设计。
加拿大安大略省。
25名痴呆症患者的家庭成员、朋友和医疗保健提供者的目的抽样样本。
参与者参加面对面访谈，讨论人际接触干预的可接受性。参与者完成问卷以对可接受性进行评分（改编的治疗感知和偏好量表）。随后进行半结构化访谈，更详细地讨论人际接触（与另一个人或动物）的评分和特征。分析包括描述性统计（定量数据）和传统内容分析（定性数据）。在结果解释过程中，将定性结果与定量结果进行比较，以提供背景信息并更深入地了解参与者对干预可接受性的看法；这些结果在结果部分一起呈现，以展示它们对研究结果的独特和互补贡献。
超过80%的参与者认为与一个人或动物的人际接触在解决孤独问题方面是有效的、合理的、合适的且风险较低。参与者参与这种接触的意愿，例如作为访客或动物接触的促进者，为72%。参与者强调了人际接触的益处。研究结果表明，需要个性化、灵活的干预措施，并包括适当的促进措施。
未来开发和测试人际接触干预措施的研究应采用灵活的实施方式，评估这些干预措施的可行性和可接受性（如在复杂干预的2期试验中），并关注痴呆症患者的体验。
与一个人或动物进行量身定制、定期且有促进作用的接触有望解决痴呆症患者的孤独问题。
• 孤独在情感上令人痛苦，会损害经历孤独者的健康和生活质量。
• 人际接触干预是指定期拜访另一个人或动物，已发现其在解决认知功能完好的老年人的孤独问题方面有效。
• 痴呆症患者的朋友、家庭成员和医疗保健提供者认为人际接触干预在解决痴呆症老年人的孤独问题方面是合理的、合适的且有效的。
• 人际接触干预并不总是容易实施，也不会自动促进有意义的联系并预防痴呆症患者的孤独感。
• 需要采取策略来量身定制和促进人际接触干预，以提高其在痴呆症患者中使用时的有效性。
