Open AccessDeveloping Behavioral Coding to Understand Family Communication Breakdown in Dementia Care
Author(s) -
Carissa Coleman,
Iman M Aly,
Ashlyn Dunham,
Kacie Inderhees,
Michaela Richardson,
Paige Wilson,
Amy Berkley,
Marie Y. Savundranayagam,
Kristine Williams
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
western journal of nursing research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.552
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1552-8456
pISSN - 0193-9459
DOI - 10.1177/01939459211062957
Subject(s) - silence , coding (social sciences) , nonverbal communication , dementia , reliability (semiconductor) , psychology , family caregivers , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , gerontology , disease , philosophy , statistics , power (physics) , physics , mathematics , pathology , quantum mechanics , aesthetics
Communication breakdown is a challenge for family caregivers of persons living with dementia. We adapted established theory and scales for computer-assisted behavioral coding to characterize caregiver communication for a secondary analysis. We developed verbal, nonverbal, and breakdown coding schemes and established reliability (κ > .85). Within the 221 family caregiving videos analyzed, 55% of exchanges were interactive, 30% were silence, 4% consisted of talking to self or others, and 8% included a breakdown. An average of 2.4 ( SD = 1.9) breakdowns occurred per observation and were successfully resolved 85% of the time, with 31% being resolved most successfully following only one flag and repair strategy. Caregivers were the primary speakers (67%); their communication preceded most breakdown (65%), and they primarily initiated the repairs after a breakdown (70%). Common repair strategies included clarifications (31%), asking questions (24%), and repeating information (24%). Associations between communication strategies and repair success will provide evidence for caregiver training.