School of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, No. 365, MingTe Rd, PeiTou, District, Taipei, 112303, Taiwan.
Department of Nursing, Hsin Sheng Junior College of Medical Care and Management, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
BMC Psychiatry. 2024 Jun 18;24(1):452. doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-05891-0.
Getting lost with family members who have dementia is a significant source of stress for family caregivers. In Taiwan, family caregivers develop strategies to deal with dementia persons who may get lost. This study aimed to explore the experiences of family caregivers caring for persons with dementia who have been lost outside the home.
A descriptive phenomenological method was used. The COREQ checklist was used to ensure the explicit reporting of data. A total of 20 family caregivers caring for persons with dementia who were lost outside their homes were selected from hospital outpatient clinics and a day care center in northern Taiwan using purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using the Giorgi analysis method.
Five main themes emerged: (i) surprised persons with dementia lost outside, (ii) using strategies to prevent persons with dementia from getting lost, (iii) using strategies to find lost persons with dementia, (iv) exhaustion in long-term care persons with dementia, and (v) coping with the care load. It was found that family caregivers were surprised, nervous, and worried about persons with dementia being lost outside. They used the first strategy to supervise persons with dementia to prevent external losses. In addition, long-term supervision of persons with dementia led to mental exhaustion in the family caregivers. Finally, the family caregivers learned about loss prevention strategies and obtained family support and care replacement workers to reduce the care burden.
It is essential to teach family caregivers early to prevent persons with dementia from losing external strategies. Nurses also provide long-term care services to reduce the care burden on family caregivers.
与患有痴呆症的家庭成员走失是家庭照顾者的一个主要压力源。在台湾，家庭照顾者会制定策略来应对可能走失的痴呆症患者。本研究旨在探讨照顾家中走失的痴呆症患者的家庭照顾者的体验。
采用描述性现象学方法。使用 COREQ 清单确保明确报告数据。使用目的抽样从台湾北部的医院门诊和日间护理中心共选择了 20 名照顾家中走失的痴呆症患者的家庭照顾者。使用 Giorgi 分析方法对数据进行分析。
出现了五个主要主题：（i）对痴呆症患者在外面走失感到惊讶，（ii）使用策略防止痴呆症患者走失，（iii）使用策略寻找走失的痴呆症患者，（iv）长期照顾痴呆症患者导致身心疲惫，以及（v）应对照顾负担。研究发现，家庭照顾者对痴呆症患者在外面走失感到惊讶、紧张和担忧。他们使用第一个策略监督痴呆症患者以防止外部损失。此外，长期监督痴呆症患者导致家庭照顾者精神疲惫。最后，家庭照顾者学习了预防走失的策略，并获得了家庭支持和照顾替代工人，以减轻照顾负担。
早期教授家庭照顾者预防痴呆症患者外部走失的策略很重要。护士还提供长期护理服务，以减轻家庭照顾者的照顾负担。
