Early Interventions for Dementia: Improving Quality of Life - Research Paper

Introduction

Dementia is a problem that has been persistent with older adults and their families. The introduction of early interventions is essential because it has been linked with improved quality of life among people with dementia. Research shows that people with dementia are the most excluded group of people in western society because they are faced with aging and reduction in cognition. Understanding the effects of the disease requires understanding the experiences of the people who have the condition. Research shows that people with dementia cannot voice their opinions, views, and feelings. However, recent findings indicate that interviewing and reporting people with dementia assist in improving their health conditions and understanding them better. The inclusion of people with dementia in research has raised ethical and methodological challenges among the researchers. The current study aims to research the interviewing and reporting of patients with dementia.

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The principle of justice concerning patients with dementia is essential because the majority of patients with dementia are excluded in the interviewing process. Justice to dementia patients involves balancing their benefits and risks when interview and reporting. The research studies exclude most people with dementia because of the problems related to memory loss because they consider the information they provide inconclusively and unreliable for study (Parrao et al., 2017). According to research, most representatives in research underestimate the quality of life of the people who have dementia (Parrao et al., 2017). Underestimation of their efforts limits them from having opportunities leading to better lives. The inclusion of people with dementia in interviews and reporting is justified. Still, the continued exclusion of the people is ethically justified only when the information they provide contradicts with any ethical principles.

Research proves that the inclusion of patients with dementia in the research process has positive therapeutic effects on them. Using proxy accounts when interviewing the patients with dementia helps in protecting them from exclusion in the entire researching process (Parrao et al., 2017). Interviewing people with dementia provides positive benefits because they will be impressed with the fact that a person is interested in them. Validation of their feelings and experiences through research and interviewing assists in boosting their self-esteem and their approach to handling different issues (Parrao et al., 2017). Several authors have noted that interviewing people with dementia is enjoyable to them because it enriches them with more information. The experiences of the people are not diminished a fact which helps in improving their health outcomes. For the people with the disease, failure to include them in interviewing experiences provides a challenge in personal knowledge on how to handle various situations (Parrao et al., 2017). However, most researchers do not consider including people with dementia in the interviewing opportunities because of lacking an appropriate procedure to interview the people (Parrao et al., 2017). Regarding ethics, the last significant barrier remaining to the autonomy of the patients with dementia is a failure to understand their contribution to the research processes.

Reporting people with dementia requires acquiring consent rather than excluding them from the research processes. Researchers working in the field of dementia have to inform the dementia patients and the risks of attendance to the interviewing processes (Williams, 2015). Also, the researchers have to make sure patients are reported on the implications of being involved in the research activities. The potential future impacts of the decisions they make to join the research are also useful because they provide the patients with options of opting out earlier. Research also shows that the inclusion criteria of patients with dementia in the interviewing process entail voluntary actions (Williams, 2015). The patients with dementia have to be accorded the right to exclude themselves from the study without any prejudice.

According to research, the current methods used in determining the consent of approval of the patients with dementia rely on cognitive experiences. Overreliance on cognitive ability threatens the inclusion of dementia patients in the researching processes. According to research, a universalistic approach to the ethics in research inclusion criterion has to be adopted (Waheed et al., 2019). The method is supposed to be based on the inclusion of members in research activities irrespective of their mental conditions. Considering the capacity of the people with dementia in specific contexts and building on their strengths in research is essential in increasing the number of dementia patients in the researching processes (Waheed et al., 2019). Research shows that the capacity of consent when including patients with dementia in a research study is based on personal experiences (Waheed et al., 2019). The ability to understand most patients with dementia is improved because the main focal point is supposed to be on the feelings and experiences of the people. The basic concept in the inclusion of the patients with dementia in interviewing is supposed to be based on competency until they demonstrate otherwise.

There is a need to formulate dementia-specific approaches in doing research studies. Interviews are important because they provide safe contexts to understand people with dementia. Establishing good relationships with people who have dementia helps in building a rapport with them (Digby, Lee & Williams, 2016). The inequality existing between the people with dementia when interviewing them is eliminated through building a rapport with time. While interviewing the people with dementia, how the researchers start the interview and conclude it assists in creating a secure connection, especially when the research is repeated (Digby et al., 2016). Researchers suggest that interviewing patients with dementia requires leaving them with a sense of achievement. Also, it assists in finding the real subject on what to conclude when involved in the process of research. Furthermore, research suggests that working with a family member helps in creating a positive perception when engaged in the research process (Digby et al., 2016). Showing continued interest with the person with dementia helps in creating positive influence even after the research activities are completed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, interviewing patients with dementia requires understanding the people and judging them based on experiences. The inclusion criterion requires having a consent form before including them. The patients have to follow the consequences of being involved in the researching processes. The research has to answer important questions and explore new ideas. Also, ethical concerns have to attend to justify the inclusion of people with dementia adequately. A dementia-specific approach is proposed to include most patients with dementia in the researching process. The benefits of including patients with dementia in research are more than the risks. Patients with dementia feel uplifted when involved in the researching processes. Also, their contributions to the research assist in building on a body of literature on how to handle the fundamental challenges they face when providing information. Therefore, most of the research approaches have to include people with dementia in their studies. The creation of a rapport with them assists in creating a long-lasting effect on their relationship with the researchers.

References

Digby, R., Lee, S., & Williams, A. (2016). Interviewing people with dementia in hospital: Recommendations for researchers. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 25(7-8), 1156-1165.

Parrao, T., Brockman, S., Bucks, R. S., Bruce, D. G., Davis, W. A., Hatch, K. K., ... Starkstein, S. E. (2017). The Structured Interview for Insight and Judgment in Dementia: Development and validation of a new instrument to assess awareness in patients with dementia. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, 7, 24-32.

Waheed, W., Mirza, N., Waheed, M. W., Blakemore, A., Kenning, C., Masood, Y., ... Bower, P. (2019). Recruitment and methodological issues in conducting dementia research in British ethnic minorities: A qualitative systematic review. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, e1806.

Williams, L. (2015). Information available to patients diagnosed with dementia: Interviews with caregivers and their experiences. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/18d2/62120cc82a5cd9b3365a48c141d848f19938.pdf