Communication Patterns and Characteristics of Family Caregivers and Persons Living With Dementia: Secondary Analysis...

It is essential to characterize communication patterns for better health outcomes for family caregivers and persons living with dementia.

This study aimed to examine the relationships between communication patterns and the characteristics of dyads of family caregivers and persons living with dementia.

A secondary analysis was conducted using 75 video-recorded home care observations from 19 dyads. Participant characteristics and caregiver burden, depression, and sense of competence were collected from the parent study. The video-recorded dyadic communication patterns were assessed using a coding scheme developed based on Communication Accommodation Theory and Classical Test Theory. The relative frequency of the communication patterns was compared between groups.

Overall, 8311 caregiver and 8024 care recipient communication behaviors were observed. Caregiver communication patterns were categorized as facilitative, disabling, and neutral. Care recipient communication patterns were categorized as engaging, challenging, and neutral. Caregiver gender, care recipient gender, care recipient education level, dementia diagnosis length, types of dementia, dyadic gender difference, burden, depression, and competence of caregiver, and types of communication were significantly associated with caregiver communication. Dementia diagnosis length, caregiver competence, dyadic gender difference, and types of communication were significantly associated with care recipient communication.

The findings demonstrated different communication patterns depending on individual and dyad characteristics and evidence for dyadic communication support to promote meaningful interaction for persons living with dementia. Further analysis is needed to identify mediating factors and causal relationships.