[The influence of Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) on behavioural problems of persons with dementia and the job satisfaction of caregivers: a pilot study]

Abstract

The prevalence of behavioural problems in nursing home residents with dementia is high. Knowledge based on practical experiences suggests that problems diminish when caregivers are better able to recognize and acknowledge the individual psychosocial needs of residents. Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) is a method designed to support caregivers in providing person centered care. After implementing two DCM-cycli in a Dutch care facility changes in behaviour and level of agitation of clients with dementia and changes in job satisfaction of caregivers were evaluated in a One-Group Pretest-Posttest design. The GIP-28 (Dutch Behavioral Rating Scale for Psychogeriatric Inpatients) and the CMAI (Cohen Mansfield Agitation Inventory) were used to measure potential changes in behaviour and level of agitation of the clients. The MAS-GZ (Maastricht Scale of Satisfaction with Labour in Health Care) was used to measure potential changes in job satisfaction of caregivers. The data of 45 clients with dementia and 27 caregivers were analyzed. They stayed and worked in seven different wards of the care facility including day-care for clients who were still living at home, group care and small-scale-living care for residential clients. The results of this pilot study show that problems related to affective behaviour (subscale GIP-28: emotions of anxiety, mistrust and melancholy) as well as verbal agitation (subscale CMAI: excessively asking for attention, complaining and negativism) decreased in the group clients with dementia. No changes occurred in the other subscales and in the total score of the GIP-28 and CMAI. The overall job satisfaction of caregivers did not change, but their contentment with the extent to which they feel connected with clients improved. In conclusion, the results of this pilot study indicate that implementing DCM in care facilities for persons with dementia could have some positive consequences for both clients and caregivers. A large-scale controlled trial including diagnosis and stage of dementia as baseline measures, is recommended.