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Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment
Published on: June 25, 2019
Decision-making involvement of individuals with dementia
Heather L Menne1, Carol J Whitlatch
1Margaret Blenkner Research Institute, Benjamin Rose Institute, 11900 Fairhill Road, Suite 300, Cleveland, OH 44120-1053, USA. hmenne@benrose.org
Purpose:
Research underscores how autonomy and decision-making involvement may help to enhance the quality of life of older adults; however, individuals with dementia are often excluded from decision making that is related to their daily functioning. In this study we use a modified version of the Stress Process Model to consider the stress process of individuals with chronic illness, and in particular to explore the predictors of decision-making involvement among individuals with dementia (n = 215).
Design And Methods:
We collected data from individual with dementia (IWD)-family caregiver dyads. Relying primarily on data from the IWD, we used hierarchical multiple regression analysis to determine the predictors of the IWD's decision-making involvement.
Results:
Results indicate that individuals who report more decision-making involvement are younger, female, have more education, have a nonspousal caregiver, have fewer months since their diagnosis, exhibit fewer problems with activities of daily living and fewer depressive symptoms (based on caregiver report), and place more importance on autonomy/self-identity.
Implications:
In our discussion we examine the importance of autonomy and impairment levels for understanding the decision-making involvement of persons with dementia.
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