Voicing Ageism in Nursing Home Dementia Care.
Kristine Williams, Clarissa Shaw, Alexandria Lee and 5 others
PMID 28556867WHAT IT FOUND
Staff used elderspeak, such as baby talk and 'we' for the resident's task, in 84% of care recordings.
For residents with dementia, this can imply dependence and restrict choice.
Key findings
01At least one example of elderspeak was identified in 67 of 80 transcripts (84%).
02Collective pronoun substitution was the most common elderspeak form, appearing in 55 of 80 transcripts (69%).
03Inappropriate terms of endearment appeared in 28 transcripts and were used 73 times; 'honey' or 'hon' was the most frequent.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Secondary analysis of a small sample from three nursing homes, with few residents and staff in each home. Video recording may have changed natural communication because a videographer was present. The study describes how staff spoke; it does not test whether changing staff speech improves resident care or reduces resistance.
Declared interests
The parent study was NIH funded. The supplied text does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that elderspeak causes resistive behavior. This analysis counted staff speech patterns in transcripts; the association with resident resistance came from the parent study, not from a tested intervention here.