Using a Trauma-Informed Care Approach to Understand Family Caregivers' Experiences of Accessing Formal Supports in Dementia Care.
Christine Meng, Safira Lachapelle, Adebusola Adekoya and 4 others
PMID 39916411WHAT IT FOUND
Family caregivers of people with dementia described feeling unsafe, distrusted, and powerless when home care was late, cancelled, or ignored their own health and preferences.
They wanted clear updates, peer connection, and real choice in care planning.
Key findings
01Caregivers said their own physical and mental safety was compromised when home care was scarce, unreliable, or when their stress was not asked about.
02Trust was damaged when services arrived late or cancelled, information was hard to obtain, and providers seemed disease-focused rather than person- and family-focused.
03Caregivers described blocked attempts to share decisions with staff, including requests for food preparation, wound care supplies, and scheduling choices.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was 3 men and 12 women aged 36 to 83, mostly women, from British Columbia, so it cannot be assumed to represent all dementia caregiving families. It is qualitative and did not test a trauma-informed intervention or measure health outcomes for caregivers or people with dementia. The pandemic context and closures of programs shaped some experiences, so service problems may not look the same outside that period. Diary completion varied, so some trauma-informed care experiences may not have been captured. Participants were caregivers, not nurses or other clinicians, so the paper reports their perceptions of interactions, not observed clinician behaviour.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as proof that trauma-informed care improves dementia outcomes. The study asked family caregivers about their experiences over time; it did not test an intervention or measure patient outcomes.