Healthcare professionals’ experiences and views of providing continence support and advice to people living at home with dementia: “That’s a carer’s job”

TY - JOUR

T1 - Healthcare professionals’ experiences and views of providing continence support and advice to people living at home with dementia

T2 - “That’s a carer’s job”

AU - Bradbury, Barbara

AU - Chester, Helen

AU - Santer, Miriam

AU - Morrison, Leanne

AU - Fader, Mandy

AU - Ward, Jane

AU - Manthorpe, Jill

AU - Murphy, Catherine

N1 - Funding Information: The research team thanks all the organisations and participants who were involved in this study for their assistance, making the research possible. We also thank the NIHR for funding this research as part of the Three Schools’ Dementia Research Programme. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.

PY - 2024/2/29

Y1 - 2024/2/29

N2 - Background: People living with dementia at home and their family carers often feel unsupported by healthcare professionals in managing continence problems. In turn, primary and community-based healthcare professionals have reported lacking specific knowledge on dementia-continence. This study aimed to understand more about healthcare professionals’ experiences and views of supporting people living with dementia experiencing continence problems, as part of developing acceptable resources. Having a nuanced understanding of unmet need would facilitate the design of engaging resources that enable healthcare professionals to provide more effective continence support to people living with dementia at home. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of healthcare professionals (n = 31) working in primary and community care in the South of England in 2023. Transcribed interviews were uploaded to NVivo 12, then analysed inductively and deductively using a thematic framework. Results: Continence-related conversations were avoided by many healthcare professionals due to lack of dementia-continence specific knowledge. Many considered that continence problems of people living with dementia were largely outside their remit once a physical cause had been ruled out. This contributed to a lack of priority and proactivity in raising the subject of continence in their consultations. Challenges to providing support included limited consultation time and lack of access to specialist services with availability to support individuals. Conclusion: There is substantial scope to support primary and community-based healthcare professionals in their provision of continence-related support and advice to people living at home with dementia. This includes addressing knowledge deficits, enhancing confidence and instilling a sense of accomplishment.

AB - Background: People living with dementia at home and their family carers often feel unsupported by healthcare professionals in managing continence problems. In turn, primary and community-based healthcare professionals have reported lacking specific knowledge on dementia-continence. This study aimed to understand more about healthcare professionals’ experiences and views of supporting people living with dementia experiencing continence problems, as part of developing acceptable resources. Having a nuanced understanding of unmet need would facilitate the design of engaging resources that enable healthcare professionals to provide more effective continence support to people living with dementia at home. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of healthcare professionals (n = 31) working in primary and community care in the South of England in 2023. Transcribed interviews were uploaded to NVivo 12, then analysed inductively and deductively using a thematic framework. Results: Continence-related conversations were avoided by many healthcare professionals due to lack of dementia-continence specific knowledge. Many considered that continence problems of people living with dementia were largely outside their remit once a physical cause had been ruled out. This contributed to a lack of priority and proactivity in raising the subject of continence in their consultations. Challenges to providing support included limited consultation time and lack of access to specialist services with availability to support individuals. Conclusion: There is substantial scope to support primary and community-based healthcare professionals in their provision of continence-related support and advice to people living at home with dementia. This includes addressing knowledge deficits, enhancing confidence and instilling a sense of accomplishment.

KW - Continence management

KW - Dementia care

KW - Primary healthcare professionals

KW - Urinary incontinence

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186244029&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1186/s12877-024-04830-8

DO - 10.1186/s12877-024-04830-8

M3 - Article

C2 - 38424477

AN - SCOPUS:85186244029

SN - 1471-2318

VL - 24

JO - BMC Geriatrics

JF - BMC Geriatrics

IS - 1

M1 - 213

ER -