Nursing for Families of Elderly Inpatients with Dementia in Japan

A Literature Review

Abstract

  This study aims to understand the focus of nursing support provided to families of elderly inpatients with dementia. For this purpose, a review of literature published between 2006 and 2018 was conducted using the Ichushi-Web. Based on a review of 19 papers, 86 codes, 21 sub-categories, and 6 categories were created. The six categories were “Daily consideration for the families,” “Improving relationships to reduce physical and mental burdens,” “Supporting the relationship between patients and their families,” “Collaboration in patient care with families,” “Collaboration with other occupations,” and “Hospital discharge support.” The findings showed that while the length of stay in the hospital was shortened, nurses at the hospital focused on providing home care support for the families of the patients and many nursing studies with a home-based perspective were extracted. Additionally, the results suggested that nurses conducted not only support for homecare, but also considerable support for the families engaged in care.