Perspectives of Women with Dementia Receiving Care - Research Paper Example

Women and Dementia of Critique of Women and Dementia Dementia is a very difficult disease for anyone and for women itis more difficult. In fact, Godfrey and El-Badri (2009) that Dementia in women is one of the most feared diseases as women age, and Dementia is the fifth cause of death in women. This in itself is difficult and when a daughter has to live with a mother that is slipping further and further into Dementia, the situation can become painful (Ward-Griffin, Bol and Oudshoorn, 2006). In the article by Ward-Griffin, Bol and Oudshoorn (2006) the issue of women and dementia is discussed. Overview of the Study The study conducted by Griffin, Bol, and Oudshoorn (2006) interviewed ten women who lived in their community regarding dementia and caretaking. The study was written in APA style with correct citations throughout the article. There was an extensive reference list at the end of the article that spanned 26 years (1979-2005). The references are aligned with different aspects of the study and the authors provided an extensive list that could have been used by someone who wanted to conduct another study like it. There was no indication of the authors’ credentials on the article so more research was available about the authors. Ward-Griffin is an educator and researcher at the Lawson Health Research Institute in Canada, focusing on “gender, care work and health” (Ward-Griffin, 2013, para. 1). Her research has been funded nationally. Bol is a Nurse Case Manager at the London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario. Her specialty is psychogeriatric nursing, according to her LinkedIN profile. Oudshoorn is an assistant professor at the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing in Canada and his specialties are in community health and mental health (Western Health Sciences, 2013). All three researchers have the qualifications to add expertise to this article. The title of this article was misleading because it appeared at the first several readings of the title that the authors were talking to the adult daughters of women with dementia. When reading the paper, the authors talked to women with dementia about the care that they were receiving from their daughters. This made a very different objective for the gathering of data and the presentation of the results than if the study had interviewed the women. The researchers conducted 10 in-depth and semi-structured interviews with 10 women living in the community. The average age for the participants was 88 years of age but the range of ages was from 75 to 98. The average time spent with mothers and daughters together was three days per week. Each daughter had provided weekly assistance to their mothers from one to six years and this assistance involved grocery shopping, transportation, housekeeping, personal care and housekeeping. Each daughter provided different assistance, depending on their mother’s needs. The variables included in the study were the requirements for participation. The requirements for the study went through the Ethics Review Board and then mothers were recruited through posters at key community agencies, community centers, and doctors’ offices so that researchers could gain a diverse sample. Each mother had to have a score of 17 or higher on the Standardized Mini-Mental Status Examination (SMMSE) the had to speak English and spend at least two hours of care each week, and they had to have strong verbal and comprehension skills at the time of their participation in the study. At the beginning of the study, after the screenings, 20 mothers with dementia participated in the study and 20 were not able to participate because of low SMMSE scores. The study was conducted ethically in that all participants received written information about the study and its purpose and the nature of it. The participants were asked to participate in two different studies, one at the beginning, and then a second one between six and nine months of the first study. The authors also wanted to understand how the relationship between mothers and daughters changed as the dementia increased. Findings The results of the study presented showed many different factors that were present between mothers and daughters. The mothers perceptualized their association with their daughters as a flower where which is a standard idea of the “forget-me-not flower according to the authors (Ward-Griffin, 2006, p. 131). The petals of the flower were used to describe a specific part of the care. In the end, all mothers stated that they were grateful to their daughters for taking care of them, and the mothers and daughters had to negotiate care. Mothers also stated that they were feeling guilty because their daughters had to care for them and they did not want to become a burden to their adult children. Abstract According to the American Psychiatric Association [APA] (2010) an abstract is a short synopsis of the article. The abstract should tell the reader information about the information they will find in the article and it should be more important than any other paragraph in the article. The American Psychiatric Association goes on to provide specific information about what is expected in an abstract. When evaluating the information, the manuscript elements of the abstract were used to analyze the abstract for these articles (APA, 2010, p. 25-27). Accurate The abstract did reflect the information in the rest of the article. The abstract gave a comprehensive idea of what the reader could expect for the rest of the article. Non-Evaluative The abstract reported what the article was about and did not add any information that was not located in the body of the article. Coherent and Readable The abstract was written in clear language and did not use intelligible jargon in the language. The abstract used the proper wording that the APA describes. Concise The abstract was brief, and it provided enough information to give the reader an understanding of what was covered and the results of the study. The most important points included the caregiving experience, the number of participants, the study design, the results, and what the authors would do in terms of recommendations for the study, were concisely written about in a very tight summary. The abstract was exactly 181 words, which fits within the APA word limit of between 150 and 250 words. Introduction to the Study Creswell (2009) states that the introduction should begin the entire article and set the premise for the study. One point of the introduction is to draw the reader into the study. It should be interesting and must introduce the problem and the purpose of the full study. The introduction should be conceived in only a few pages. The introduction was two pages which are in line with Creswell’s recommendation, and it included information about other studies that were important to the current study. Problem Statement A Creswell (2009) state that the research problem is what leads to a need for the study. The problem statement in this study was difficult to find. Generally, a problem statement is identified by saying that it is a problem. The authors provided background information about studies that were important to their study, but the mention of the problem was not clearly stated. It seemed that the authors wanted the readers to gain an understanding of what they would be talking about and that there would be more need for elderly people with dementia to have help, but it was not clear what problem they were going to investigate. Statement of the Purpose Creswell (2009) states that the purpose statement provides the specific intent of the study. The purpose provides an understanding of one issue (phenomenon) that the researchers are going to explore. The statement of in the introduction of this study was very clear because it used the words, the purpose of, to show exactly what the researchers would study. The statement was clear and concise and provided information about the participants. Literature Review Leedy and Ormrod (2009) state that the overall purpose of a literature review is to provide an understanding of the literature that has been presented on the topic that the current researchers present. Leedy and Ormrod stress that the researcher must know the literature that has been written on their topic, “very, very well” (p. 66). In the current research study, the authors provided a thorough literature review of very specific topics that aligned with their topic of dementia. The researchers categorized their literature review in a way that was understandable and through. They created an opportunity for the reader to understand the theories that were the foundation of their study and then moved into the different writings on women and dementia. They provided a historical view as well as a more contemporary one, and showed clearly how their research would fit into the process. Relevance of Research Studies Christensen, Johnson and Turner (2010) state that the purpose of a literature review is to understand the research that has come before the current article being written. In this study, Ward-Griffin et al. (2006) provide a thorough review of literature that starts historically and builds to the current day (current as of 2006). The studies that were provided aligned with the purpose statement, the introduction, and the abstract. The studies were relevant in that they all provided information for either the theoretical foundation the authors used or specific information about women and dementia. The authors provided a clear understanding of the research articles that have been done prior to their research and they have included an exhaustive review. Relevance of Theories Kucan (2011) states that one purpose of the literature review is to provide the theoretical concepts of the study. In the study by Ward-Griffin et al. (2006) the social-feminist theory and the life-course perspective were used as their theoretical basis. They used these two theories so that they could create a connection between mother and daughter relationships and how these relationships worked when daughter had to take care of the mother. They defined the dynamics of the mother daughter relationship in that it is “intergenerational” and “between two women” (p. 127). These theories aligned with the purpose of the study and enhanced the introduction. The reader could very clearly make connections between what was written and the study that Ward-Griffin et al. provided. Organization The organization of the literature review was adequate. The authors used headings to make allow the reader to follow the different aspects of their study. Also, the organization was done in logical sequence and in small enough paragraphs that the article was very easy to follow. Theory/Framework Theory provides the foundation or framework for the rest of the research. Liechty, Liao, and Schull (2009) show that the theoretical framework must match the research study. Simon (2011) adds that the theoretical framework provides the structure that the idea of the study will be based upon, and it brings the current study into the perspective that the researchers want their researcher to move into easily. Ward-Griffin et al. (2006) provide an explicit theoretical framework. It is explicit because it directly ties in with the lens that they have placed inside their research for the reader to look through for their research. As stated previously, the two theories were the social-feminist theory and the life-course perspective and both easily aligned with the research. Relationship between the Framework and Concepts One of the very important concepts of the study was the relationship between mothers and daughters. The authors created the connection from social-feminist theory of how mothers and daughters generally work together and sometimes against each other. The issue of caring was also brought through the social-feminist framework. The life-course perspective was a strong fit for the idea of the relationship between mothers and daughters in the issue of caring. Ward-Griffin et al. (2006) state that this brings a different idea to the study than the caring literature, because it shows that two women exchange information throughout their lifetimes. Using the life-course perspective provided an understanding of how women come together between generations and how they work out a health and well-being process. Relationship of Theory/Framework to Nursing Ward-Griffin et al. (2006) create a relationship to nursing in the introduction of their research paper. The population of elderly is growing in Canada, and the authors point out that there will be more elderly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia as they age, and that they will need more caregivers to take care of them. In many situations in any country, the elderly may need taking care of by their family members. Nurses will be providing information and care as the first or second order of care for dementia patients. Also, today there is an emphasis on people staying in their homes as long as possible. Ward-Griffin et al. (2006) also point out that there have been many differences in healthcare that moved older back into the homes of their families to be taken care of as a way to help them cope with the disease. Research Questions Ward-Griffin et al. (2006) had three questions that they proposed for the research. The three questions were: RQ1: How do women with AD and their adult daughters describe their experiences of receiving/providing care? The authors were able to answer this question using the forget-me-not flower analogy. However, the study results were based on the mothers’ perceptions so the research question was not fully answer. The mothers spoke about how their experience was with their daughters when they received care, but the study did not talk to the daughters to understand how the daughters perceived giving care to their mothers. The mothers spoke about wanting to be independent but also needing and being thankful for the care, but the adult daughters’ perspectives were not factored in as far as I could see. It was puzzling to understand why the authors provided a question like this and then did not answer it totally. RQ2: How do women with AD and their adult daughters describe their relationship? The mothers were asked to describe the relationship with their daughters and the authors said the answers depended on the individual’s values and age. Many mothers stated they were happy for the care, although they knew their daughters were busy. It seemed that the researchers wanted to only explain the issues from the mothers’ perspectives. This would have been fine, because it narrowed down the focus of the study, but the researchers should have changed the research questions to reflect that the study was only about the mothers’ perceptions. RQ3: What contextual factors influence the care provided/received? The authors answered this question thoroughly. They explained how mothers perceived the care they received and many contextual factors in which mothers’ saw their children. As an example, they showed that mothers were grateful for the care they received from their daughters, but that they also understood that their daughters were busy and they did not want to be a burden. This is the only question that the researchers answered. Research Objectives The researchers did not separate their objectives from the purpose of the study, but they specified an aim of the study differently from the purpose. The aim could be assumed to be the research objective. The aim was to talk with the mothers with dementia to give them a voice in the literature about dementia. The aim was also to provide an understanding of what the community could to do to help. The research objectives were met if they are put into this context. Ethical Considerations Although the authors did not show specific examples of ethical considerations, they did say that their study went through the process of their ethical review board. This showed that they did take into consideration specific issues around working with these mothers. The authors would have had a confidentiality clause in their description of the study, and they had to make sure that the mothers were taken care of with the dementia; they may have had to have permission from the daughters for them to take part. Conclusion The issue of dementia in women is one that has been talked about in the literature to an extent, but it has not been totally explored. The authors have studied this from the perceptions of the mothers’ rather than a study about dementia. This perspective adds to the discussion of dementia in women. Another issue that the researchers bring to the forefront is how women with dementia perceive themselves and perceive the care they receive from their daughters. Although the participants were a small group of women, the research described provides a view that opens discussion about this disease so that community health care personnel can look for ways to provide more in-home care for those women who are being taken care of by their families. The authors had several research questions but they did not align with the study’s purpose, the abstract or the introduction. The authors should have refocused their research questions so that they were more in alignment with their overall research. The study did provide interesting information into this disease and one that is not often seen in the literature. References American Psychiatric Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American psychological association. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association. Creswell, J. W.(2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Christensen, L. B., Johnson, R. B., & Turner, L. A. (2010). Research methods, design, and analysis (11ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Godfrey, J., & El-Badri, N. (2009). Toward optimal health: advising aging women about dementia. Journal Of Womens Health (15409996), 18(7), 929-933. DOI: 10.1089=jwh.2009.1546 Kucan, L. (2011). Approximating the practice of writing the dissertation literature review. Literacy Research and Instruction, 50(3), 229-240. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/878894205?accountid=35812 Leedy, P.D., & Ormrod, J.E. (2009). Practical research: Planning and design (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Liechty, J. M., Liao, M., & Schull, C. P. (2009). Facilitating dissertation completion and success among doctoral students in social work. Journal of Social Work Education, 45(3), 481-497. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/209790839?accountid=35812 Simon, M. K. (2011). Dissertation & scholarly research: A practical guide to start and complete your dissertation, thesis, or formal research project. (No state listed), United States: Dissertation Success. Ward-Griffin, C. (2013). Dr. Catherine Ward-Griffin. Lawson Health Research Institute, Retrieved from http://www.uwo.ca/nursing/cwg/index.html Ward-Griffin, C., Bol, N.,Oudshoorn, A., (2006). Perspectives of women with dementia receiving care from their adult daughters. The Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 38(1), 120-146. Retrieved from ProQuest database, Document ID: 67933123 Western Health Sciences. (2013). Abe Oudshoorn. Western Health Sciences. Retrieved from http://www.uwo.ca/fhs/bio/profile/oudshoorn_a.html Read More