<p>Preventing The Abuse Of Residents With Dementia Or Alzheimer’s Disease In The Long-Term Care Setting: A Systematic Review</p>

Abstract

PurposeThe main objective of this study was to investigate abuse of residents with either dementia or Alzheimer’s disease in long-term care settings, to identify facilitators and barriers surrounding implementation of systems to prevent such occurrences, and to draw conclusions on combating the issue of abuse.Patients and methodsA systematic review was conducted using the Medline, CINAHL, and Academic Search Ultimate databases. With the use of key terms via Boolean search, 30 articles were obtained which were determined to be germane to research objectives. The review was conducted and structured based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.ResultsResidents with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease are at greater risk of abuse. The growing population could increase this problem exponentially. The most common facilitators were the introduction of policies/programs in the facility, education, and working conditions. The most cited barriers were poor training, lack of research, and working conditions in the long-term care setting.ConclusionThe examples given would be useful in minimizing the potential for abuse in the long-term care setting. Leadership can take an active role in the prevention of abuse of the elderly through their actions, education of employees, and changes in the work environment.

Factors associated with staff-to-resident abuse in Norwegian nursing homes: a cross-sectional exploratory study

“…Residents suffering from dementia may for many reasons refuse personal care, food, or medications, and they may become angry or agitated in a way that challenges nursing staff [ 80 ]. How staff cope in these situations may be affected by personal factors such as psychological distress or attitudes towards older people, but also by the level of geriatric training and institutional factors such as lack of time and resources [ 20 , 81 ]. Again, we did not find that health education or continuous healthcare education was a protective factor against staff-to-resident abuse.…”

“…The responsibility of taking care of older people in nursing homes must not be taken lightly, and managers should take time to understand staff members’ strengths and limitations when it comes to their physical and mental health, as well as their attitudes towards older persons in general [ 81 ]. Managers should promote a positive and safe work environment with a high level of social and psychological support of staff and recognize that these are beneficial factors contributing to a high quality of care that may reduce staff-to-resident abuse [ 20 , 90 , 97 , 98 ].…”

Portuguese Older Persons’ Views about Living in a Nursing Home: Challenges to the Rehabilitation of the Image of LTC in Post-Pandemic Times

“…Studies on cultures of work in institutional care facilities have highlighted how thin the barrier is between poor quality and violence in what concerns the relationship between residents and their caregivers [ 19 ]. Some research has paid particular attention to the identification of factors that increase the risk of violence in nursing homes, with results pointing to dementia as one of the most critical ones [ 20 , 21 ]. Studies on service provision quality have signaled the occurrence of situations of neglect in nursing homes, often associated with understaffing [ 22 ] and lack of training of staff [ 23 ].…”

Abuse and neglect of older people in health facilities from the perspective of nursing professionals: A cross‐sectional study from Croatia

“…The abuse of older people with dementia is also pervasive, especially psychological and physical abuse components (Dong et al, 2014). This was also recognised as a growing problem in older people with Alzheimer's disease in the long‐term care setting, with facilitators such as education and working conditions (Mileski et al, 2019). Moreover, the prevalence of abuse in older patients with depression was 24% in a study by Patel et al (2018) conducted in a Tertiary Care Centre in Saurashtra, India, with a sample size of 100.…”