FAMILY DEMENTIA CAREGIVERS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE VIRTUAL DEMENTIA TOUR®: A CHANGED REALITY

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Candace Currie Harrington (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: "Family dementia caregiving involves many challenges that often lead to stress and frustration. A subjective understanding of the daily struggles associated with dementia is not possible unless one has the disease; therefore , the family dementia caregiver's perception of dementia might be incongruent with their family member's lived experience. The Virtual Dementia Tour®(VDT) provides a vicarious first-person perspective for six of the most common symptoms of dementia. Although extensive evidence supports the use of the Virtual Dementia Tour® in the healthcare profession and education , no research studies were found investigating the Virtual Dementia Tour® with family dementia caregivers. This hermeneutic phenomenological study discovered family dementia caregivers' perceptions of the VDT® and its impact on family dementia caregivers' perceived reality of their family member living with dementia. Ten participants were recruited for in-depth open semi-structured interviews following participation in the Virtual Dementia Tour® at a community event. Data analysis was performed using a modification of Colaizzi's (1978) method for phenomenological analysis. One over-arching theme , It Changed Me , described the culmination of the participants' experiences leading to a changed reality of their family member living with dementia. Four supporting subthemes described the participants' internal processes toward empathic understanding , interpretation , and responsiveness. The findings suggest that family dementia caregivers interpreted their experience in the Virtual Dementia Tour® with empathic understanding and responsiveness. The VDT® had a powerful impact that led to an eye-opening epiphany about the lived experience of dementia and served as a ""call to action"" to change expectations and approach to caregiving. This study begins to fill a gap in the body of nursing knowledge and research about the value of the Virtual Dementia Tour® with family dementia caregivers in community settings. Moreover , it highlights the need to combine this experience with formal training to improve the quality of family dementia care."

Additional Information

Publication

Dissertation

Language: English

Date: 2018

Keywords

interpretative phenomenology, qualitative research, Alzheimer's disease and related disorders

Subjects

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