SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND DEMENTIA: A DESCRIPTIVE QUALITATIVE STUDY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PERSONS WITH COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS AND THEIR CAREGIVERS

Background: Social participation is of great importance as part of successful and healthy aging since it is associated with physical and mental health and well-being. Community-dwelling older people with cognitive impairments... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
Social participation is of great importance as part of successful and healthy aging since it is associated with physical and mental health and well-being. Community-dwelling older people with cognitive impairments and their caregivers are at risk for social isolation. We intended to develop a tailor-made multidisciplinary intervention to maintain or improve their social participation. The aim was to first explore how people with cognitive impairments and caregivers perceive social participation and which factors are perceived as influencing.
Methods:
A qualitative study consisting of thirteen semi-structured, in depth interviews with older people with cognitive impairments and caregivers (dyads). Interviews were thematically analysed through content analysis.
Results:
All participants indicated a decrease in social participation. Caregivers tended to be unsatisfied with the social participation level of the persons they cared for. Dyads displayed a variation of influencing factors which acted either as barrier or as facilitator for their own social participation. Analysis of the interviews resulted in five themes of influencing factors: behavioural; physical; social environmental ; physical environmental ; and activity related factors.
Conclusion:
Social participation is influenced by both personal resources (willingness and capacity) and contextual resources (social capital, access and opportunity).
Application to Practice:
Older people with cognitive impairments cope with reduced participation by trying to improve their level of social functioning, or by lowering expectations and expressing feelings of acceptance and satisfaction. The discrepancy between levels of satisfaction with social participation among caregivers and the people they care for introduces difficulties in the decision to intervene.