Person-centred and task-centred care: Impact on mealtime behaviours in nursing home residents with dementia.
Wen Liu, Yelena Perkhounkova, Maria Hein
PMID 36374224WHAT IT FOUND
Person-centred talking was linked to both cooperation and resistance, while task-centred care showed no link to either.
Staff used more physical support when residents struggled with eating mechanics.
Key findings
01Staff person-centred verbal approaches were associated with resident positive verbal behaviours and resident resistive behaviours.
02Staff task-centred approaches were not associated with resident positive/neutral or challenging mealtime behaviours.
03Resident functional impairments were associated with fewer staff person-centred verbal approaches and more staff person-centred nonverbal approaches.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional and associative, so it cannot prove that staff approaches caused resident behaviours or vice versa. Staff task-centred behaviours and resident behaviours were dichotomised (present/absent) due to low frequencies, which may have masked subtle relationships. The sample was small (25 residents) and lacked racial diversity (all residents were White). Potential clustering effects of multiple videos from the same staff or residents were not adjusted for in the analysis. Hawthorne effect cannot be ruled out, as staff knew they were being recorded.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the National Institute of Aging at National Institute of Health. No other conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of association between task-centred care and challenging behaviours as evidence that rushing or controlling patients is harmless. The study was underpowered for these rare behaviours, and person-centred care remains the clinical standard for dementia.